head to head · open source
nono vs lean-ctx
nono has 4,580 GitHub stars, 312 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lean-ctx has 3,890 stars, 353 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nono leads on adoption by 18% (4,580 vs 3,890 stars). nono is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; lean-ctx is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. nono has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, lean-ctx 9%. lean-ctx was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, ai-security), 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
| nono | lean-ctx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.6K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-19 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 312 | ⑂ 353 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nono if
- You weight community size — 4.6K 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 lean-ctx if
- You want the lean-ctx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and lean-ctx fits your workflow better
About nono
Built by the team that brought you Sigstore The standard for secure software attestation, used by PyPI, npm, brew, and Maven Central [!NOTE] In the lead up to a 1.0 release, APIs are stabilizing. API changes may still occur where necessary, but will be kept to a minimum. [!IMPORTANT] Organization migration: The official nono registry namespace has moved from always further to nolabs ai . Update any references in your scripts, profiles, and CI. If you already have a pack installed under the old namespace, remove it first before pulling from the new one: The old namespace will be retired — migrate now. Run AI…
About lean-ctx
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read the full lean-ctx overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nono or lean-ctx more popular?
nono has 4,580 GitHub stars and lean-ctx has 3,890. nono has the larger community by that measure.
Are nono and lean-ctx free?
Both are open source. nono is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lean-ctx under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nono and lean-ctx?
nono is written in Rust and lean-ctx in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nono or lean-ctx?
Choose nono if you want the larger community (4,580 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lean-ctx if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.