head to head · open source
Mole vs taskbar-monitor
Mole has 68,128 GitHub stars, 2,400 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped today. taskbar-monitor has 539 stars, 42 forks, 62 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Mole leads on adoption by 12,540% (68,128 vs 539 stars). Mole is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; taskbar-monitor is written in C# under GPL-3.0. Mole has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, taskbar-monitor 8%. Mole 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
| Mole | taskbar-monitor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 539 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Shell | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-03-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 42 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mole if
- You weight community size — 68K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick taskbar-monitor if
- You want the taskbar-monitor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and taskbar-monitor fits your workflow better
About Mole
Mole is an open source macOS utility that combines system cleanup, application management, and live monitoring into a single native app and CLI tool. It runs on macOS 12+ for both Intel and Apple Silicon, offering a unified interface for reclaiming disk space, uninstalling apps thoroughly, visualizing storage, and tracking real time system health. Built in Shell and licensed under GPL 3.0, it aggregates functionality found across several paid tools—CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus—into one binary.
About taskbar-monitor
taskbar monitor is a free, open source Windows DeskBand, written in C and licensed under GPL 3.0, that draws live CPU, memory, disk, and network charts directly on the Windows taskbar for people who want resource usage visible at all times without opening a separate monitoring window.
read the full taskbar-monitor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mole or taskbar-monitor more popular?
Mole has 68,128 GitHub stars and taskbar-monitor has 539. Mole has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mole and taskbar-monitor free?
Both are open source. Mole is licensed under GPL-3.0 and taskbar-monitor under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mole and taskbar-monitor?
Mole is written in Shell and taskbar-monitor in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Mole or taskbar-monitor?
Choose Mole if you want the larger community (68,128 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose taskbar-monitor if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.