head to head · open source
monaco-editor vs just-the-browser
monaco-editor has 46,885 GitHub stars, 4,157 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped yesterday. just-the-browser has 3,059 stars, 92 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. monaco-editor leads on adoption by 1,433% (46,885 vs 3,059 stars). monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT; just-the-browser is written in Shell under MIT. monaco-editor has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, just-the-browser 3%. 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 | just-the-browser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-10-22 | 2026-10-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 92 |
| 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 just-the-browser if
- You want the just-the-browser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and just-the-browser 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 just-the-browser
Just the Browser Just the Browser helps you remove AI features, telemetry data reporting, sponsored content, product integrations, and other annoyances from desktop web browsers. The goal is to give you "just the browser" and nothing else, using hidden settings in web browsers intended for companies and other organizations. This project includes configuration files for popular web browsers, documentation for installing and modifying them, and easy installation scripts. Install script The setup script can install the configuration files in a few clicks. You can also follow the manual guides for Google Chrome…
read the full just-the-browser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monaco-editor or just-the-browser more popular?
monaco-editor has 46,885 GitHub stars and just-the-browser has 3,059. monaco-editor has the larger community by that measure.
Are monaco-editor and just-the-browser free?
Both are open source. monaco-editor is licensed under MIT and just-the-browser under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monaco-editor and just-the-browser?
monaco-editor is written in JavaScript and just-the-browser in Shell. 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 just-the-browser?
Choose monaco-editor if you want the larger community (46,885 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose just-the-browser if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.