head to head · open source
Kilo vs terax-ai
Kilo has 27,853 GitHub stars, 3,335 forks, 586 open issues and last shipped yesterday. terax-ai has 9,437 stars, 1,049 forks, 449 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Kilo leads on adoption by 195% (27,853 vs 9,437 stars). Kilo is written in TypeScript under MIT; terax-ai is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Kilo has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, terax-ai 11%. Kilo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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 | terax-ai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 9.4K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kilo if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick terax-ai if
- You want the terax-ai 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 terax-ai fits your workflow better
About Kilo
English 简体中文 繁體中文 한국어 Deutsch Español Français Italiano Dansk 日本語 Polski Русский Bosanski العربية Norsk Português (Brasil) ไทย Türkçe Українська বাংলা Ελληνικά Tiếng Việt The open source coding agent for building with AI in VS Code, JetBrains, or the CLI. Kilo Code is an AI coding agent that meets you everywhere you work: VS Code, JetBrains, and the CLI. It's open source with open pricing. You pick from 500+ models, switch between them mid task, and pay the model provider's rate with zero markup. No API keys required to start. Installation Pick where you want to run Kilo. VS Code Install the Kilo Code extension…
About terax-ai
Terax Lightweight Terminal first AI native dev workspace. Website · Docs · Website's source code 简体中文 Español Deutsch Français 日本語 한국어 Português Polski Русский Bahasa Indonesia हिन्दी Terax is a lightweight open source terminal first AI native development environment (ADE) built on Tauri 2 + Rust and React 19. A native PTY backend with a WebGL renderer, an agentic AI side panel that runs against your own keys or fully local models, plus a code editor, file explorer, source control with a git graph, and a web preview pane built in. About 7 8 MB on disk. No telemetry. No account. Screenshots Web preview of local…
read the full terax-ai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kilo or terax-ai more popular?
Kilo has 27,853 GitHub stars and terax-ai has 9,437. Kilo has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kilo and terax-ai free?
Both are open source. Kilo is licensed under MIT and terax-ai under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kilo and terax-ai?
Kilo is written in TypeScript and terax-ai 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 terax-ai?
Choose Kilo if you want the larger community (27,853 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose terax-ai if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.