head to head · open source
vscodium vs Kilo
vscodium has 33,935 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 146 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Kilo has 27,853 stars, 3,335 forks, 586 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vscodium leads on adoption by 22% (33,935 vs 27,853 stars). vscodium is written in Shell under MIT; Kilo is written in TypeScript under MIT. vscodium has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Kilo 12%. Kilo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (vscode), 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
| vscodium | Kilo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 28K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Shell | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vscodium if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Kilo if
- You want the Kilo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Kilo fits your workflow better
About vscodium
VSCodium Free/Libre Open Source Software Binaries of Visual Studio Code This is not a fork. This is a repository of scripts to automatically build Microsoft's vscode repository into freely licensed binaries with a community driven default configuration. Table of Contents Download/Install Install with Brew Install with Windows Package Manager (WinGet) Install with Chocolatey Install with Scoop Install with snap Install with Package Manager Install on Arch Linux Flatpak Option Build Why Does This Exist More Info Supported Platforms Previously Supported Platforms Download/Install :tada: :tada: Download latest…
read the full vscodium overview →
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…
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Frequently asked questions
Is vscodium or Kilo more popular?
vscodium has 33,935 GitHub stars and Kilo has 27,853. vscodium has the larger community by that measure.
Are vscodium and Kilo free?
Both are open source. vscodium is licensed under MIT and Kilo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vscodium and Kilo?
vscodium is written in Shell and Kilo 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, vscodium or Kilo?
Choose vscodium if you want the larger community (33,935 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Kilo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.