head to head · open source
helix vs evil-helix
helix has 46,663 GitHub stars, 3,857 forks, 1,671 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. evil-helix has 1,383 stars, 40 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. helix leads on adoption by 3,274% (46,663 vs 1,383 stars). helix is written in Rust under MPL-2.0; evil-helix is written in Rust under MPL-2.0. helix has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, evil-helix 3%. helix was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (vim), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| helix | evil-helix | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 40 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick helix if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick evil-helix if
- You want the evil-helix feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and evil-helix fits your workflow better
About helix
A Kakoune / Neovim inspired editor, written in Rust. The editing model is very heavily based on Kakoune; during development I found myself agreeing with most of Kakoune's design decisions. For more information, see the website or documentation. All shortcuts/keymaps can be found in the documentation on the website. Troubleshooting Features Vim like modal editing Multiple selections Built in language server support Smart, incremental syntax highlighting and code editing via tree sitter Although it's primarily a terminal based editor, I am interested in exploring a custom renderer (similar to Emacs) using wgpu…
read the full helix overview →
About evil-helix
evil helix A soft fork of Helix which introduces Vim keybindings and more. Installation Download a package and extract it in /opt . Additionally, it's recommended to symlink it in /usr/local/bin : Package manager If a package is available for your system's package manager, it's the recommended way to install evil helix. Current state These are the current differences compared to the upstream project: Vim keybindings ( feel free to file an issue if you're missing certain bindings ): Commands: a , c , d , y , x Modifiers: i Motions: w , W , e , E , b , B , 0 , $ Visual line mode: V Adjusted defaults (511060a): The…
read the full evil-helix overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is helix or evil-helix more popular?
helix has 46,663 GitHub stars and evil-helix has 1,383. helix has the larger community by that measure.
Are helix and evil-helix free?
Both are open source. helix is licensed under MPL-2.0 and evil-helix under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between helix and evil-helix?
helix is written in Rust and evil-helix 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, helix or evil-helix?
Choose helix if you want the larger community (46,663 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose evil-helix if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.