head to head · open source
herdr vs gitdiagram
herdr has 51,020 GitHub stars, 4,130 forks, 337 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. gitdiagram has 18,931 stars, 1,445 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. herdr leads on adoption by 170% (51,020 vs 18,931 stars). herdr is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; gitdiagram is written in TypeScript under MIT. herdr has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, gitdiagram 8%. gitdiagram was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, developer-tools), 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
| herdr | gitdiagram | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 19K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick herdr if
- You weight community size — 51K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gitdiagram if
- You want the gitdiagram feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and gitdiagram fits your workflow better
About herdr
herdr herdr.dev · install · quick start · docs English · 简体中文 the runtime your coding agents live on. detach without stopping work — herdr keeps terminals running in a background server when you close the client or lose your SSH connection. after a server or machine restart, herdr restores the saved layout and can resume supported agent sessions; the original processes do not survive. session state → several machines, one window — keep local work and saved ssh machines together, with a combined agent list and independent reconnects. remote machines → never hunt for the stuck one — every pane is marked working…
read the full herdr overview →
About gitdiagram
GitDiagram Visualize any codebase: turn any public or private GitHub repository into an interactive architecture diagram, or watch it explained in a one minute narrated video. AI agents can use it too, through the MCP server or the Markdown version of any diagram ( gitdiagram.com/owner/repo.md ). Try GitDiagram → · Or replace hub with diagram in any GitHub repository URL. Sponsored SMS, WhatsApp, and RCS through one API. Try Sent → New: explainer videos GitDiagram can now turn a repository into a narrated video of about a minute. The video starts with what the project is for and what people do with it, then…
read the full gitdiagram overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is herdr or gitdiagram more popular?
herdr has 51,020 GitHub stars and gitdiagram has 18,931. herdr has the larger community by that measure.
Are herdr and gitdiagram free?
Both are open source. herdr is licensed under Apache-2.0 and gitdiagram under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between herdr and gitdiagram?
herdr is written in Rust and gitdiagram 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, herdr or gitdiagram?
Choose herdr if you want the larger community (51,020 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose gitdiagram if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.