head to head · open source
bento vs IronCalc
bento has 5,599 GitHub stars, 388 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. IronCalc has 4,246 stars, 217 forks, 256 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bento leads on adoption by 32% (5,599 vs 4,246 stars). bento is written in TypeScript under MIT; IronCalc is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. bento has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, IronCalc 5%. bento was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (self-hosted), 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
| bento | IronCalc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.6K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 388 | ⑂ 217 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bento if
- You weight community size — 5.6K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick IronCalc if
- You want the IronCalc 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 IronCalc fits your workflow better
About bento
Bento — the office suite that fits in a file This PowerPoint alternative is a single HTML file. A Bento deck carries its own viewer, presenter, and editor inside the document — open it in any browser, edit it, present it, send it. The person you send it to needs nothing: the file is the software. Try it in 10 seconds: open bento.page/slides — that's the entire app, running on a starter deck that doubles as the feature tour. Or grab a designed template from the gallery and make it yours. Download the app: grab the single Bento Slides.bento.html from the GitHub Releases page or straight from bento.page ( 560 KB…
read the full bento overview →
About IronCalc
IronCalc [![MIT licensed][mit badge]][mit url] [![Apache 2.0 licensed][apache badge]][apache url] [![Build Status][actions badge]][actions url] [![Code coverage][codecov badge]][codecov url] [![docs badge]][docs url] [![Discord chat][discord badge]][discord url] [mit badge]: [mit url]: [apache badge]: [apache url]: [codecov badge]: [codecov url]: [actions badge]: [actions url]: [docs url]: [docs badge]: [discord badge]: [discord url]: IronCalc is a new, modern, work in progress spreadsheet engine and set of tools to work with spreadsheets in diverse settings. This repository contains the main engine and the xlsx…
read the full IronCalc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bento or IronCalc more popular?
bento has 5,599 GitHub stars and IronCalc has 4,246. bento has the larger community by that measure.
Are bento and IronCalc free?
Both are open source. bento is licensed under MIT and IronCalc under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bento and IronCalc ?
bento is written in TypeScript and IronCalc 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, bento or IronCalc ?
Choose bento if you want the larger community (5,599 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose IronCalc if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.