head to head · open source
lerna vs Tangent
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars, 2,265 forks, 287 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tangent has 551 stars, 38 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. lerna leads on adoption by 6,443% (36,053 vs 551 stars). lerna is written in TypeScript under MIT; Tangent is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. lerna has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Tangent 7%. 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 | Tangent | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 551 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 38 |
| 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 Tangent if
- You want the Tangent feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Tangent 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 Tangent
Tangent is a local note writing and personal knowledge management tool, distributed as a TypeScript monorepo, for writers, researchers, and personal knowledge management practitioners who want styled, link connected notes stored on their own machine rather than in a hosted service.
read the full Tangent 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 Tangent more popular?
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars and Tangent has 551. lerna has the larger community by that measure.
Are lerna and Tangent free?
Both are open source. lerna is licensed under MIT and Tangent under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lerna and Tangent?
lerna is written in TypeScript and Tangent 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, lerna or Tangent?
Choose lerna if you want the larger community (36,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Tangent if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.