head to head · open source
monaco-editor vs javascript-obfuscator
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars, 4,128 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. javascript-obfuscator has 16,257 stars, 1,741 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. monaco-editor leads on adoption by 188% (46,758 vs 16,257 stars). monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT; javascript-obfuscator is written in TypeScript under BSD-2-Clause. monaco-editor has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, javascript-obfuscator 11%. 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 | javascript-obfuscator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 16K |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 javascript-obfuscator if
- You want the javascript-obfuscator feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and javascript-obfuscator 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 javascript-obfuscator
JavaScript Obfuscator is a free, BSD 2 Clause licensed TypeScript obfuscator for JavaScript and Node.js source code, built for developers who need to ship browser or server side JavaScript that is hard to read, tamper with, or reverse engineer.
read the full javascript-obfuscator overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monaco-editor or javascript-obfuscator more popular?
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars and javascript-obfuscator has 16,257. monaco-editor has the larger community by that measure.
Are monaco-editor and javascript-obfuscator free?
Both are open source. monaco-editor is licensed under MIT and javascript-obfuscator under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monaco-editor and javascript-obfuscator?
monaco-editor is written in JavaScript and javascript-obfuscator 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 javascript-obfuscator?
Choose monaco-editor if you want the larger community (46,758 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose javascript-obfuscator if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.