head to head · open source
G6 vs Ghostwriter
G6 has 12,300 GitHub stars, 1,646 forks, 333 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Ghostwriter has 1,916 stars, 257 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. G6 leads on adoption by 542% (12,300 vs 1,916 stars). G6 is written in TypeScript under MIT; Ghostwriter is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. G6 has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Ghostwriter 13%. Ghostwriter was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| G6 | Ghostwriter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-07-15 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 257 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick G6 if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Ghostwriter if
- You want the Ghostwriter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Ghostwriter fits your workflow better
About G6
G6 is a TypeScript graph visualization engine, published as @antv/g6 under the MIT licence, that provides the drawing, layout, analysis, interaction, animation, theme and plugin primitives developers need to build their own graph visualization and analysis applications.
About Ghostwriter
Ghostwriter is open source Python project management and reporting engine for offensive security work. It lives in information security, penetration testing, red team ecosystem. Category: Data & Analytics, Business Intelligence & Reporting. Stack: Python 3.13, Django 5.2. Topics: informationsecurity, penetration testing, red team, reporting.
read the full Ghostwriter overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is G6 or Ghostwriter more popular?
G6 has 12,300 GitHub stars and Ghostwriter has 1,916. G6 has the larger community by that measure.
Are G6 and Ghostwriter free?
Both are open source. G6 is licensed under MIT and Ghostwriter under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between G6 and Ghostwriter?
G6 is written in TypeScript and Ghostwriter in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, G6 or Ghostwriter?
Choose G6 if you want the larger community (12,300 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Ghostwriter if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.