head to head · open source
lapce vs Visual-Code-Space
lapce has 38,864 GitHub stars, 1,335 forks, 901 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Visual-Code-Space has 675 stars, 83 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. lapce leads on adoption by 5,658% (38,864 vs 675 stars). lapce is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Visual-Code-Space is written in Kotlin under GPL-3.0. lapce has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Visual-Code-Space 12%. lapce was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (code-editor), 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
| lapce | Visual-Code-Space | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 675 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 83 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lapce if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Visual-Code-Space if
- You want the Visual-Code-Space feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and Visual-Code-Space fits your workflow better
About lapce
Lapce is an Apache 2.0 licensed, native graphical code editor written in pure Rust for developers who want fast text editing, built in language intelligence, Vim style modal editing, and remote development support inside one application rather than assembled from a base editor plus a stack of extensions.
read the full lapce overview →
About Visual-Code-Space
Visual Code Space is a free, GPL 3.0 licensed code editor for Android, written in Kotlin, that gives developers a tabbed editing workspace, multi language syntax highlighting and an integrated terminal on a phone or tablet.
read the full Visual-Code-Space overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lapce or Visual-Code-Space more popular?
lapce has 38,864 GitHub stars and Visual-Code-Space has 675. lapce has the larger community by that measure.
Are lapce and Visual-Code-Space free?
Both are open source. lapce is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Visual-Code-Space under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lapce and Visual-Code-Space?
lapce is written in Rust and Visual-Code-Space in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, lapce or Visual-Code-Space?
Choose lapce if you want the larger community (38,864 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Visual-Code-Space if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.