head to head · open source
lite-xl vs react-textarea-code-editor
lite-xl has 6,515 GitHub stars, 328 forks, 330 open issues and last shipped yesterday. react-textarea-code-editor has 577 stars, 25 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. lite-xl leads on adoption by 1,029% (6,515 vs 577 stars). lite-xl is written in Lua under MIT; react-textarea-code-editor is written in TypeScript under MIT. lite-xl has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, react-textarea-code-editor 4%. lite-xl was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (code-editor, 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-textarea-code-editor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.5K | ★ 577 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-08 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 328 | ⑂ 25 |
| 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-textarea-code-editor if
- You want the react-textarea-code-editor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and react-textarea-code-editor 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-textarea-code-editor
Using my app is also a way to support me: React Textarea Code Editor === [ ](
read the full react-textarea-code-editor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lite-xl or react-textarea-code-editor more popular?
lite-xl has 6,515 GitHub stars and react-textarea-code-editor has 577. lite-xl has the larger community by that measure.
Are lite-xl and react-textarea-code-editor free?
Both are open source. lite-xl is licensed under MIT and react-textarea-code-editor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lite-xl and react-textarea-code-editor?
lite-xl is written in Lua and react-textarea-code-editor 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-textarea-code-editor?
Choose lite-xl if you want the larger community (6,515 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose react-textarea-code-editor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.