head to head · open source
Neovim vs sidex
Neovim has 102,419 GitHub stars, 7,118 forks, 1,900 open issues and last shipped today. sidex has 2,954 stars, 238 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 24 days ago. Neovim leads on adoption by 3,367% (102,419 vs 2,954 stars). Neovim is written in Vim Script under a custom or non-standard licence; sidex is written in TypeScript under MIT. Neovim has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, sidex 8%. Neovim 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
| Neovim | sidex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 102K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Vim Script | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-08-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.1K | ⑂ 238 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Neovim if
- You weight community size — 102K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Vim Script
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick sidex if
- You want the sidex feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and sidex fits your workflow better
About Neovim
Neovim is a Vim fork text editor focused on extensibility and usability, built as a modern refactoring of Vim’s codebase. It lives in the developer tools ecosystem, specifically as a terminal based code editor that maintains compatibility with Vim’s core editing model while adding new capabilities.
read the full Neovim overview →
About sidex
SideX is a port of Visual Studio Code that replaces Electron with Tauri — a Rust backend running against the operating system's native webview — for developers who want the VS Code workbench, editor, terminal and Git tooling without the bundled browser that normally comes with them.
read the full sidex overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Neovim or sidex more popular?
Neovim has 102,419 GitHub stars and sidex has 2,954. Neovim has the larger community by that measure.
Are Neovim and sidex free?
Both are open source. Neovim has no licence declared in this registry, and sidex is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Neovim and sidex?
Neovim is written in Vim Script and sidex 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, Neovim or sidex?
Choose Neovim if you want the larger community (102,419 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose sidex if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.