head to head · open source
lerna vs PolyglotPDF
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars, 2,265 forks, 287 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PolyglotPDF has 1,321 stars, 198 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. lerna leads on adoption by 2,629% (36,053 vs 1,321 stars). lerna is written in TypeScript under MIT; PolyglotPDF is written in Python under GPL-3.0. lerna has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, PolyglotPDF 15%. 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.
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Side by side
| lerna | PolyglotPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2025-09-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 198 |
| 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 PolyglotPDF if
- You want the PolyglotPDF feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and PolyglotPDF 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 PolyglotPDF
PolyglotPDF is a Python based multilingual eBook and PDF processing tool for translating documents while preserving original layout. It targets scanned and digital PDFs, and it sits in the content publishing ecosystem as an open source layout preserving translator. The README describes specialized techniques for recognizing text, tables, and formulas in PDF documents, with processing typically completed within one second and full document translations usually completed within ten seconds depending on the translation API provider.
read the full PolyglotPDF overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lerna or PolyglotPDF more popular?
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars and PolyglotPDF has 1,321. lerna has the larger community by that measure.
Are lerna and PolyglotPDF free?
Both are open source. lerna is licensed under MIT and PolyglotPDF under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lerna and PolyglotPDF?
lerna is written in TypeScript and PolyglotPDF in Python. 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 PolyglotPDF?
Choose lerna if you want the larger community (36,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose PolyglotPDF if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.