head to head · open source
Kilo vs opcode
Kilo has 27,369 GitHub stars, 3,178 forks, 586 open issues and last shipped yesterday. opcode has 22,409 stars, 1,720 forks, 332 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Kilo leads on adoption by 22% (27,369 vs 22,409 stars). Kilo is written in TypeScript under MIT; opcode is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Kilo has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, opcode 8%. Kilo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (claude), 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
| Kilo | opcode | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 22K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kilo if
- You weight community size — 27K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick opcode if
- You want the opcode feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and opcode fits your workflow better
About Kilo
Kilo is an open source AI coding agent platform that integrates into VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, the CLI, and cloud environments. It enables developers to build, ship, and iterate faster by acting as an autonomous or semi autonomous coding assistant across their entire workflow. Built in TypeScript and licensed under MIT, it supports 500+ models—including GPT 5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview—without vendor lock in or markup.
About opcode
opcode is an open source desktop GUI application and toolkit for Claude Code that provides a visual command centre for projects, sessions, custom agents, Model Context Protocol servers, checkpoints, and API usage, aimed at developers who already work with Claude Code from the command line and want a graphical layer over it.
read the full opcode overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kilo or opcode more popular?
Kilo has 27,369 GitHub stars and opcode has 22,409. Kilo has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kilo and opcode free?
Both are open source. Kilo is licensed under MIT and opcode under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kilo and opcode?
Kilo is written in TypeScript and opcode 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, Kilo or opcode?
Choose Kilo if you want the larger community (27,369 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose opcode if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.