head to head · open source
helix vs Kilo
helix has 46,772 GitHub stars, 4,011 forks, 1,671 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Kilo has 27,834 stars, 3,332 forks, 586 open issues and last shipped yesterday. helix leads on adoption by 68% (46,772 vs 27,834 stars). helix is written in Rust under MPL-2.0; Kilo is written in TypeScript under MIT. helix has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Kilo 12%. Kilo 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
| helix | Kilo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 28K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-29 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| 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 Kilo if
- You want the Kilo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Kilo 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 Kilo
English 简体中文 繁體中文 한국어 Deutsch Español Français Italiano Dansk 日本語 Polski Русский Bosanski العربية Norsk Português (Brasil) ไทย Türkçe Українська বাংলা Ελληνικά Tiếng Việt The open source coding agent for building with AI in VS Code, JetBrains, or the CLI. Kilo Code is an AI coding agent that meets you everywhere you work: VS Code, JetBrains, and the CLI. It's open source with open pricing. You pick from 500+ models, switch between them mid task, and pay the model provider's rate with zero markup. No API keys required to start. Installation Pick where you want to run Kilo. VS Code Install the Kilo Code extension…
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Frequently asked questions
Is helix or Kilo more popular?
helix has 46,772 GitHub stars and Kilo has 27,834. helix has the larger community by that measure.
Are helix and Kilo free?
Both are open source. helix is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Kilo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between helix and Kilo?
helix is written in Rust and Kilo in TypeScript. 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 Kilo?
Choose helix if you want the larger community (46,772 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Kilo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.