head to head · open source
Mermaid vs bklit-ui
Mermaid has 90,299 GitHub stars, 9,266 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. bklit-ui has 1,655 stars, 105 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Mermaid leads on adoption by 5,356% (90,299 vs 1,655 stars). Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT; bklit-ui is written in TypeScript under MIT. Mermaid has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, bklit-ui 6%. bklit-ui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (typescript), 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
| Mermaid | bklit-ui | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.3K | ⑂ 105 |
| 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 bklit-ui if
- You want the bklit-ui feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and bklit-ui 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 bklit-ui
Bklit UI is an MIT licensed collection of open source React charts and utility components, distributed as a shadcn registry for TypeScript teams that want to copy visualization code into their own projects and extend it.
read the full bklit-ui overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mermaid or bklit-ui more popular?
Mermaid has 90,299 GitHub stars and bklit-ui has 1,655. Mermaid has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mermaid and bklit-ui free?
Both are open source. Mermaid is licensed under MIT and bklit-ui under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mermaid and bklit-ui?
Mermaid is written in TypeScript and bklit-ui 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 bklit-ui?
Choose Mermaid if you want the larger community (90,299 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose bklit-ui if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.