head to head · open source
mantis vs apexyard
mantis has 2,712 GitHub stars, 225 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. apexyard has 542 stars, 328 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mantis leads on adoption by 400% (2,712 vs 542 stars). mantis is written in Python under Apache-2.0; apexyard is written in Shell under MIT. mantis has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, apexyard 61%. apexyard was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, code-review), 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
| mantis | apexyard | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.7K | ★ 542 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 225 | ⑂ 328 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mantis if
- You weight community size — 2.7K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick apexyard if
- You want the apexyard feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and apexyard fits your workflow better
About mantis
Mantis: Portable Toolkit for Building Secure Software [!CAUTION] USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL. This suite is designed to generate and execute autonomously generated code that may be unstable or perform unexpected actions. USE THIS ONLY IN ISOLATED, RESTRICTED ENVIRONMENTS. Never run this suite on a machine with access to production systems, sensitive data, or internal networks. [!IMPORTANT] RESPONSIBLE USE AI models are non deterministic and can hallucinate findings or generate incorrect patches. All findings must be manually verified by a security expert before being reported. Do not mass file…
read the full mantis overview →
About apexyard
ApexYard Take agent built code the last mile — safely to production. AI can build quickly. Shipping safely needs a system. AI can produce a working prototype in a weekend. Teams still need a way to track decisions, review changes, run checks, and approve a release. ApexYard provides that system. Every change starts with a ticket. An independent reviewer checks the change. A merge gate stays closed until a named human approves the exact commit. ApexYard is a multi project ops repo . You fork it, register your projects, and manage the portfolio from one place. Shared rules, project records, and shell hooks keep…
read the full apexyard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mantis or apexyard more popular?
mantis has 2,712 GitHub stars and apexyard has 542. mantis has the larger community by that measure.
Are mantis and apexyard free?
Both are open source. mantis is licensed under Apache-2.0 and apexyard under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mantis and apexyard?
mantis is written in Python and apexyard in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mantis or apexyard?
Choose mantis if you want the larger community (2,712 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose apexyard if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.