head to head · open source
headroom vs cli
headroom has 72,811 GitHub stars, 5,598 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. cli has 31,040 stars, 1,840 forks, 131 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. headroom leads on adoption by 135% (72,811 vs 31,040 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; cli is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, cli 6%. headroom 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
| headroom | cli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 31K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick headroom if
- You weight community size — 73K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cli if
- You want the cli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and cli fits your workflow better
About headroom
Headroom is an Apache 2.0 Python library, local proxy, agent wrapper and MCP server that compresses tool outputs, logs, files, RAG chunks and conversation history before they reach an LLM, and it is built for developers running AI coding agents or LLM applications who want to cut token usage without changing the answers they get.
read the full headroom overview →
About cli
gws is a command line tool for Google Workspace, written in Rust and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It provides a single interface for Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, Docs, Chat, Admin, and the wider set of Workspace APIs. Rather than shipping a fixed list of commands, it reads Google's own Discovery Service at runtime and builds its entire command surface dynamically, so new API endpoints and methods appear without a CLI release. The project lives in the Google Workspace ecosystem and is explicitly not an officially supported Google product.
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or cli more popular?
headroom has 72,811 GitHub stars and cli has 31,040. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and cli free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cli under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between headroom and cli?
headroom is written in Python and cli in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, headroom or cli?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (72,811 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cli if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.