head to head · open source
monaco-editor vs terminal-browser
monaco-editor has 46,766 GitHub stars, 4,131 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. terminal-browser has 3,081 stars, 145 forks, 64 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. monaco-editor leads on adoption by 1,418% (46,766 vs 3,081 stars). monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT; terminal-browser is written in TypeScript under MIT. monaco-editor has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, terminal-browser 5%. terminal-browser 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 | terminal-browser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 145 |
| 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 terminal-browser if
- You want the terminal-browser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and terminal-browser 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 terminal-browser
terminal browser is a real Chromium based browser that renders inside a terminal emulator, written in TypeScript under the MIT licence, for developers who live in the terminal and for coding agents that need to see and operate the web.
read the full terminal-browser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monaco-editor or terminal-browser more popular?
monaco-editor has 46,766 GitHub stars and terminal-browser has 3,081. monaco-editor has the larger community by that measure.
Are monaco-editor and terminal-browser free?
Both are open source. monaco-editor is licensed under MIT and terminal-browser under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monaco-editor and terminal-browser?
monaco-editor is written in JavaScript and terminal-browser 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 terminal-browser?
Choose monaco-editor if you want the larger community (46,766 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose terminal-browser if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.