head to head · open source
monaco-editor vs GhostText
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars, 4,128 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. GhostText has 3,641 stars, 133 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. monaco-editor leads on adoption by 1,184% (46,758 vs 3,641 stars). monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT; GhostText is written in JavaScript under MIT. monaco-editor has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, GhostText 4%. monaco-editor 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
| monaco-editor | GhostText | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-05-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 133 |
| 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 GhostText if
- You want the GhostText feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and GhostText 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 GhostText
GhostText is a JavaScript project that connects a browser text field to a local text editor. It lives in the browser extension and editor plugin ecosystem, with published versions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, Emacs, Vim, Neovim, Helix, and another Ghost package listed in the README.
read the full GhostText overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monaco-editor or GhostText more popular?
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars and GhostText has 3,641. monaco-editor has the larger community by that measure.
Are monaco-editor and GhostText free?
Both are open source. monaco-editor is licensed under MIT and GhostText under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monaco-editor and GhostText?
monaco-editor is written in JavaScript and GhostText in JavaScript. 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 GhostText?
Choose monaco-editor if you want the larger community (46,758 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose GhostText if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.