head to head · open source
monaco-editor vs luakit
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars, 4,128 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. luakit has 2,315 stars, 254 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. monaco-editor leads on adoption by 1,920% (46,758 vs 2,315 stars). monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT; luakit is written in Lua under GPL-3.0. monaco-editor has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, luakit 11%. 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 | luakit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-06-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 254 |
| 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 luakit if
- You want the luakit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and luakit 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 luakit
Luakit is a fast, small, and simple micro browser framework built around the WebKit web content engine and the GTK+ toolkit. It is extensible by Lua, so browser behavior and user workflows can be shaped through Lua configuration files instead of only through fixed settings screens.
read the full luakit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monaco-editor or luakit more popular?
monaco-editor has 46,758 GitHub stars and luakit has 2,315. monaco-editor has the larger community by that measure.
Are monaco-editor and luakit free?
Both are open source. monaco-editor is licensed under MIT and luakit under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monaco-editor and luakit?
monaco-editor is written in JavaScript and luakit in Lua. 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 luakit?
Choose monaco-editor if you want the larger community (46,758 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose luakit if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.