head to head · open source
herdr vs openidea
herdr has 47,557 GitHub stars, 3,813 forks, 337 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openidea has 4,836 stars, 389 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped yesterday. herdr leads on adoption by 883% (47,557 vs 4,836 stars). herdr is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; openidea is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. herdr has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, openidea 8%. openidea was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| herdr | openidea | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 389 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick herdr if
- You weight community size — 48K 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 openidea if
- You want the openidea feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openidea 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 openidea
The IDE you know, rebuilt in Rust. Download · Benchmark · Build · Discord OpenIDEA brings the IntelliJ IDEA way of working — its keymap, its tool windows, its search everything habits — to a native app with a Rust core. Editor, code insight, debugger, Git, terminal, database and HTTP clients, for 60+ languages. Builds for macOS, Windows and Linux. Benchmark Opening freqtrade (Python, 770 files) with warm caches, median of 5 runs: A release build of OpenIDEA from main and IDEA with default settings and plugins, on Windows 11, 32 core AMD, 62 GB RAM. IDEA analyses Python more deeply, so "ready" doesn't mean the…
read the full openidea overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Frameworks & Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Frameworks & Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is herdr or openidea more popular?
herdr has 47,557 GitHub stars and openidea has 4,836. herdr has the larger community by that measure.
Are herdr and openidea free?
Both are open source. herdr is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openidea under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between herdr and openidea?
herdr is written in Rust and openidea 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 openidea?
Choose herdr if you want the larger community (47,557 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openidea if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.