head to head · open source
javascript-obfuscator vs kysely
javascript-obfuscator has 16,257 GitHub stars, 1,741 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. kysely has 14,233 stars, 444 forks, 173 open issues and last shipped yesterday. javascript-obfuscator leads on adoption by 14% (16,257 vs 14,233 stars). javascript-obfuscator is written in TypeScript under BSD-2-Clause; kysely is written in TypeScript under MIT. javascript-obfuscator has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, kysely 3%. kysely was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (browser, nodejs), 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
| javascript-obfuscator | kysely | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 14K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 444 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick javascript-obfuscator if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick kysely if
- You want the kysely feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and kysely fits your workflow better
About javascript-obfuscator
JavaScript Obfuscator is a free, BSD 2 Clause licensed TypeScript obfuscator for JavaScript and Node.js source code, built for developers who need to ship browser or server side JavaScript that is hard to read, tamper with, or reverse engineer.
read the full javascript-obfuscator overview →
About kysely
Kysely is a type safe TypeScript SQL query builder for Node.js, Deno, Bun, and the browser. It provides a fluent API to construct and execute type safe SQL queries, preventing runtime errors from invalid column names or incorrect data types. The core problem it solves is eliminating the fragility of raw SQL strings and the lack of type safety in many ORMs within the TypeScript ecosystem.
read the full kysely overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is javascript-obfuscator or kysely more popular?
javascript-obfuscator has 16,257 GitHub stars and kysely has 14,233. javascript-obfuscator has the larger community by that measure.
Are javascript-obfuscator and kysely free?
Both are open source. javascript-obfuscator is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and kysely under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between javascript-obfuscator and kysely?
javascript-obfuscator is written in TypeScript and kysely 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, javascript-obfuscator or kysely?
Choose javascript-obfuscator if you want the larger community (16,257 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose kysely if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.