head to head · open source
NvChad vs apkstudio
NvChad has 28,545 GitHub stars, 2,208 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. apkstudio has 4,747 stars, 753 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 501% (28,545 vs 4,747 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; apkstudio is written in C++ under LGPL-3.0. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, apkstudio 16%. apkstudio was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ide), 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
| NvChad | apkstudio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-24 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 753 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NvChad if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick apkstudio if
- You want the apkstudio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and apkstudio fits your workflow better
About NvChad
NvChad Home • Install • Contribute • Support • Features Showcase What is it? NvChad is a neovim config written in lua aiming to provide a base configuration with very beautiful UI and blazing fast startuptime (around 0.02 secs 0.07 secs). We tweak UI plugins such as telescope, nvim tree etc well to provide an aesthetic UI experience. Lazy loading is done 93% of the time meaning that plugins will not be loaded by default, they will be loaded only when required also at specific commands, events etc. This lowers the startuptime and it was like 0.07 secs tested on an old pentium machine 1.4ghz + 4gb ram & HDD…
read the full NvChad overview →
About apkstudio
APK Studio Open source, cross platform Qt6 based IDE for reverse engineering Android application packages. It features a friendly IDE like layout including code editor with syntax highlighting support for \ .smali code files. Features Cross platform, run on Linux , Mac OS X & Windows Decompile/recompile/sign & install APKs Automatic tool download & installation APK Studio can automatically download and install required tools (Java, Apktool, JADX, ADB, Uber APK Signer) Framework support Install and use manufacturer specific framework files (e.g., HTC, LG, Samsung) with optional tagging for decompiling and…
read the full apkstudio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or apkstudio more popular?
NvChad has 28,545 GitHub stars and apkstudio has 4,747. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and apkstudio free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and apkstudio under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and apkstudio?
NvChad is written in Lua and apkstudio in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, NvChad or apkstudio?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,545 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose apkstudio if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.