head to head · open source
lite-xl vs react-ace
lite-xl has 6,506 GitHub stars, 328 forks, 330 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. react-ace has 4,204 stars, 596 forks, 217 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. lite-xl leads on adoption by 55% (6,506 vs 4,204 stars). lite-xl is written in Lua under MIT; react-ace is written in TypeScript under MIT. lite-xl has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, react-ace 14%. lite-xl was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (code-editor), 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
| lite-xl | react-ace | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.5K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 328 | ⑂ 596 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lite-xl if
- You weight community size — 6.5K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick react-ace if
- You want the react-ace feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and react-ace fits your workflow better
About lite-xl
Lite XL [![CI]]( [![Discord Badge Image]]( ![screenshot dark] A lightweight text editor written in Lua, adapted from [lite]. [Get Lite XL] — Download for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. [Get plugins] — Add additional functionality, adapted for Lite XL. [Get color themes] — Add additional colors themes. Please refer to our [website] for the user and developer documentation, including [build] instructions details. A quick build guide is described below. Lite XL has support for high DPI display on Windows and Linux and, since 1.16.7 release, it supports retina displays on macOS. Please note that Lite XL is compatible…
read the full lite-xl overview →
About react-ace
React Ace A set of react components for Ace NOTE FOR VERSION 8! : We have stopped support for Brace and now use Ace builds. Please read the documentation on how to migrate. Examples are being updated. DEMO of React Ace DEMO of React Ace Split Editor DEMO of React Ace Diff Editor Install npm install react ace ace builds yarn add react ace ace builds Basic Usage Examples Checkout the example directory for a working example using webpack. Documentation Ace Editor Split View Editor Diff Editor How to add modes, themes and keyboard handlers Frequently Asked Questions Migrate to version 8 Backers Support us with a…
read the full react-ace overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lite-xl or react-ace more popular?
lite-xl has 6,506 GitHub stars and react-ace has 4,204. lite-xl has the larger community by that measure.
Are lite-xl and react-ace free?
Both are open source. lite-xl is licensed under MIT and react-ace under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lite-xl and react-ace?
lite-xl is written in Lua and react-ace 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, lite-xl or react-ace?
Choose lite-xl if you want the larger community (6,506 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose react-ace if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.