head to head · open source
Mermaid vs AVA
Mermaid has 90,299 GitHub stars, 9,266 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. AVA has 1,500 stars, 154 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mermaid leads on adoption by 5,920% (90,299 vs 1,500 stars). Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT; AVA is written in TypeScript under MIT. Mermaid has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, AVA 10%. AVA 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
| Mermaid | AVA | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.3K | ⑂ 154 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mermaid if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick AVA if
- You want the AVA feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and AVA fits your workflow better
About Mermaid
Mermaid is a JavaScript based diagramming tool that renders diagrams from Markdown like text definitions. It lives in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and operates both in the browser and in Node.js environments. The project’s core purpose is to eliminate the gap between software development and documentation by letting developers write diagrams alongside code, avoiding the rot and overhead of manual diagram maintenance.
read the full Mermaid overview →
About AVA
AVA is an MIT licensed, TypeScript based AI native visual analytics framework for developers and agents that need to load unstructured data, ask questions in plain language, and generate chart output without building a rule based analytics pipeline.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mermaid or AVA more popular?
Mermaid has 90,299 GitHub stars and AVA has 1,500. Mermaid has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mermaid and AVA free?
Both are open source. Mermaid is licensed under MIT and AVA under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mermaid and AVA?
Mermaid is written in TypeScript and AVA 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, Mermaid or AVA?
Choose Mermaid if you want the larger community (90,299 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose AVA if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.