head to head · open source
it-tools vs netbeans
it-tools has 40,640 GitHub stars, 5,432 forks, 821 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. netbeans has 3,139 stars, 933 forks, 1,081 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. it-tools leads on adoption by 1,195% (40,640 vs 3,139 stars). it-tools is written in Vue under GPL-3.0; netbeans is written in Java under Apache-2.0. it-tools has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, netbeans 30%. netbeans 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
| it-tools | netbeans | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Vue | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 933 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick it-tools if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick netbeans if
- You want the netbeans feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and netbeans fits your workflow better
About it-tools
it tools be self hostable web collection of small developer and IT utilities — converters, encoders, formatters, generators — built with Vue and TypeScript, shipped as Docker image, aimed at developers, IT people, and homelab owners who want those tools without shipping data to third party sites.
read the full it-tools overview →
About netbeans
Apache NetBeans is an Apache 2.0 open source development environment, tooling platform and application framework written in Java, aimed at developers who write and run Java applications and at teams that build desktop software on top of the NetBeans Platform.
read the full netbeans overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is it-tools or netbeans more popular?
it-tools has 40,640 GitHub stars and netbeans has 3,139. it-tools has the larger community by that measure.
Are it-tools and netbeans free?
Both are open source. it-tools is licensed under GPL-3.0 and netbeans under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between it-tools and netbeans?
it-tools is written in Vue and netbeans in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, it-tools or netbeans?
Choose it-tools if you want the larger community (40,640 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose netbeans if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.