head to head · open source
monaco-editor vs emacs-application-framework
monaco-editor has 46,939 GitHub stars, 4,168 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. emacs-application-framework has 3,497 stars, 247 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. monaco-editor leads on adoption by 1,242% (46,939 vs 3,497 stars). monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT; emacs-application-framework is written in Python under GPL-3.0. monaco-editor has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, emacs-application-framework 7%. monaco-editor was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), 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
| monaco-editor | emacs-application-framework | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 3.5K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 247 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick monaco-editor if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick emacs-application-framework if
- You want the emacs-application-framework feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and emacs-application-framework fits your workflow better
About monaco-editor
Monaco Editor The Monaco Editor is the fully featured code editor from VS Code. Check out the VS Code docs to see some of the supported features. Try it out Try out the editor and see various examples in our interactive playground. The playground is the best way to learn about how to use the editor, which features is supports, to try out different versions and to create minimal reproducible examples for bug reports. Installing You will get: inside /esm : ESM version of the editor (compatible with e.g. webpack) monaco.d.ts : this specifies the API of the editor (this is what is actually versioned, everything else…
read the full monaco-editor overview →
About emacs-application-framework
English 简体中文 A free/libre and open source extensible framework that revolutionizes the graphical capabilities of Emacs. The key to ultimately Live in Emacs Vision Emacs, the extensible text editor , is more than 45 years old. It is older than virtually all operating systems people use today, almost as old as the first UNIX system. During the decades of development, the world's brightest hackers have contributed their intelligence and creativity. Together they've constructed the most comprehensive and richest ecosystem that you can find in any software to date. If you are a hacker who works with numerous…
read the full emacs-application-framework overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monaco-editor or emacs-application-framework more popular?
monaco-editor has 46,939 GitHub stars and emacs-application-framework has 3,497. monaco-editor has the larger community by that measure.
Are monaco-editor and emacs-application-framework free?
Both are open source. monaco-editor is licensed under MIT and emacs-application-framework under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monaco-editor and emacs-application-framework?
monaco-editor is written in JavaScript and emacs-application-framework in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, monaco-editor or emacs-application-framework?
Choose monaco-editor if you want the larger community (46,939 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose emacs-application-framework if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.