head to head · open source
Mermaid vs pixijs
Mermaid has 90,293 GitHub stars, 9,266 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. pixijs has 48,179 stars, 5,071 forks, 344 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mermaid leads on adoption by 87% (90,293 vs 48,179 stars). Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT; pixijs is written in TypeScript under MIT. Mermaid has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, pixijs 11%. pixijs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Mermaid | pixijs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 48K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.3K | ⑂ 5.1K |
| 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 pixijs if
- You want the pixijs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and pixijs 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 pixijs
PixiJS is an open source 2D rendering library for the web, described in its README as the HTML5 Creation Engine. It ships WebGL and WebGPU renderers and is written in TypeScript, distributed under the MIT license from the pixijs/pixijs repository, which has been developed for fourteen years and holds roughly 48,000 stars across about 5,000 forks. The project lives in the JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystem: it is installed through npm and driven from browser code, with GLSL shaders, canvas, canvas2d, and rendering engine listed among its topics. Its homepage is pixijs.com, and the repository carries the Data and …
read the full pixijs overview →
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Business Intelligence & Reporting projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Business Intelligence & Reporting field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mermaid or pixijs more popular?
Mermaid has 90,293 GitHub stars and pixijs has 48,179. Mermaid has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mermaid and pixijs free?
Both are open source. Mermaid is licensed under MIT and pixijs under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mermaid and pixijs?
Mermaid is written in TypeScript and pixijs 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 pixijs?
Choose Mermaid if you want the larger community (90,293 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pixijs if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.