head to head · open source
Kaneo vs nimbalyst
Kaneo has 9,134 GitHub stars, 800 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nimbalyst has 1,751 stars, 254 forks, 642 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Kaneo leads on adoption by 422% (9,134 vs 1,751 stars). Kaneo is written in TypeScript under MIT; nimbalyst is written in TypeScript under MIT. Kaneo has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, nimbalyst 15%. Kaneo 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
| Kaneo | nimbalyst | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.1K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 800 | ⑂ 254 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kaneo if
- You weight community size — 9.1K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nimbalyst if
- You want the nimbalyst feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and nimbalyst fits your workflow better
About Kaneo
Kaneo is an open source project management tool for development teams, published under the MIT license and written in TypeScript. It describes itself as "all you need, nothing you don't," and its README frames the design goal around restraint: the project's authors argue that the problem with most project management platforms is not a lack of features but an excess of them, where notifications, unnecessary buttons and complex workflows pull teams away from building products. Kaneo belongs to the self hosted project and work management ecosystem, and its topic list places it explicitly alongside issue trackers and…
read the full Kaneo overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kaneo or nimbalyst more popular?
Kaneo has 9,134 GitHub stars and nimbalyst has 1,751. Kaneo has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kaneo and nimbalyst free?
Both are open source. Kaneo is licensed under MIT and nimbalyst under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kaneo and nimbalyst?
Kaneo is written in TypeScript and nimbalyst 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, Kaneo or nimbalyst?
Choose Kaneo if you want the larger community (9,134 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nimbalyst if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.