head to head · open source
nimbalyst vs KaibanJS
nimbalyst has 1,751 GitHub stars, 254 forks, 642 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. KaibanJS has 1,479 stars, 158 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. nimbalyst leads on adoption by 18% (1,751 vs 1,479 stars). nimbalyst is written in TypeScript under MIT; KaibanJS is written in TypeScript under MIT. nimbalyst has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, KaibanJS 11%. nimbalyst was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (kanban), 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
| nimbalyst | KaibanJS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.8K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-05-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 254 | ⑂ 158 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nimbalyst if
- You weight community size — 1.8K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick KaibanJS if
- You want the KaibanJS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and KaibanJS fits your workflow better
About nimbalyst
Nimbalyst is an open source visual workspace for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, and other coding agents. It lives in the agentic coding ecosystem and brings sessions, worktrees, tasks, docs, diagrams, mockups, commits, and code into one desktop application. It is written in TypeScript, uses Electron, and is MIT licensed.
read the full nimbalyst overview →
About KaibanJS
KaibanJS is an MIT licensed, TypeScript written JavaScript native framework for building and managing multi agent systems with a Kanban inspired approach. It lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and provides a way to create, visualize, and coordinate AI agents, tasks, tools, and teams.
read the full KaibanJS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nimbalyst or KaibanJS more popular?
nimbalyst has 1,751 GitHub stars and KaibanJS has 1,479. nimbalyst has the larger community by that measure.
Are nimbalyst and KaibanJS free?
Both are open source. nimbalyst is licensed under MIT and KaibanJS under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nimbalyst and KaibanJS?
nimbalyst is written in TypeScript and KaibanJS 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, nimbalyst or KaibanJS?
Choose nimbalyst if you want the larger community (1,751 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose KaibanJS if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.