head to head · open source
lerna vs WritingTools
lerna has 36,041 GitHub stars, 2,269 forks, 287 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. WritingTools has 2,479 stars, 165 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. lerna leads on adoption by 1,354% (36,041 vs 2,479 stars). lerna is written in TypeScript under MIT; WritingTools is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. lerna has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, WritingTools 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.
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Side by side
| lerna | WritingTools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-08-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 165 |
| 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 WritingTools if
- You want the WritingTools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and WritingTools fits your workflow better
About lerna
Important note: this project changed stewardship to Nx! Your favorite tool is alive and well: Lerna is a fast, modern build system for managing and publishing multiple JavaScript/TypeScript packages from the same repository. A few links to help you get started: lerna.js.org: Documentation, Guides, Interactive Tutorials Getting Started Features Official Nx and Lerna YouTube Channel Blog Posts About Lerna and Nx Engage with the Core Team and the Community Follow Lerna on Twitter Community Discord, forum channel Want to help? If you want to file a bug or submit a PR, read up on our guidelines for contributing Core…
read the full lerna overview →
About WritingTools
Writing Tools 🍎 Using a Mac? Jump to the macOS (Native Swift Port) section → macOS Instantly proofread and optimize your writing system wide with AI: Summarize content (webpages, YouTube videos, documents...) in a click: Add your own buttons for unlimited potential! ✨ What is Writing Tools? Writing Tools is an Apple Intelligence inspired application for Windows, Linux, and macOS that supercharges your writing with an AI LLM (cloud based or local). With one hotkey press system wide, it lets you fix grammar, optimize text according to your instructions, summarize content (webpages, YouTube videos, etc.), and…
read the full WritingTools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lerna or WritingTools more popular?
lerna has 36,041 GitHub stars and WritingTools has 2,479. lerna has the larger community by that measure.
Are lerna and WritingTools free?
Both are open source. lerna is licensed under MIT and WritingTools under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lerna and WritingTools?
lerna is written in TypeScript and WritingTools in Swift. 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 WritingTools?
Choose lerna if you want the larger community (36,041 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose WritingTools if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.