head to head · open source
lerna vs Openlib
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars, 2,265 forks, 287 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Openlib has 2,474 stars, 130 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. lerna leads on adoption by 1,357% (36,053 vs 2,474 stars). lerna is written in TypeScript under MIT; Openlib is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. lerna has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Openlib 5%. lerna was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| lerna | Openlib | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-01-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 130 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lerna if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Openlib if
- You want the Openlib feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and Openlib fits your workflow better
About lerna
Lerna is a fast, modern build system for managing and publishing multiple JavaScript/TypeScript packages from the same repository, aimed at teams that maintain monorepos and publish packages to npm.
read the full lerna overview →
About Openlib
Openlib is an open source Android app written in Dart with Flutter that downloads and reads books from Anna’s Archive. It lives in the Flutter mobile app ecosystem and is licensed under GPL 3.0, with public source code, GitHub releases, and links to Android package pages for com.app.openlib.
read the full Openlib overview →
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Publishing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Publishing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is lerna or Openlib more popular?
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars and Openlib has 2,474. lerna has the larger community by that measure.
Are lerna and Openlib free?
Both are open source. lerna is licensed under MIT and Openlib under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lerna and Openlib?
lerna is written in TypeScript and Openlib in Dart. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, lerna or Openlib?
Choose lerna if you want the larger community (36,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Openlib if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.