head to head · open source
monaco-editor vs Flow
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars, 4,128 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Flow has 1,075 stars, 61 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. monaco-editor leads on adoption by 4,250% (46,758 vs 1,075 stars). monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT; Flow is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. monaco-editor has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Flow 6%. 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 | Flow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-05-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 61 |
| 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 Flow if
- You want the Flow feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Flow fits your workflow better
About monaco-editor
Monaco Editor is the fully featured code editor from VS Code, packaged as an npm library so that developers can embed the same editing experience inside their own browser based applications.
read the full monaco-editor overview →
About Flow
Flow Browser is a free, GPL 3.0 licensed desktop web browser built on Electron and Chromium, written in TypeScript, that runs Chrome extensions from the Chrome Web Store and is aimed at people who want a minimal, privacy focused alternative to mainstream browsers.
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Frequently asked questions
Is monaco-editor or Flow more popular?
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars and Flow has 1,075. monaco-editor has the larger community by that measure.
Are monaco-editor and Flow free?
Both are open source. monaco-editor is licensed under MIT and Flow under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monaco-editor and Flow?
monaco-editor is written in JavaScript and Flow 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, monaco-editor or Flow?
Choose monaco-editor if you want the larger community (46,758 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Flow if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.