head to head · open source
NvChad vs auto-dev
NvChad has 28,504 GitHub stars, 2,217 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. auto-dev has 4,548 stars, 502 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 527% (28,504 vs 4,548 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; auto-dev is written in Kotlin under MPL-2.0. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, auto-dev 11%. auto-dev 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 | auto-dev | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-09-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 502 |
| 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 auto-dev if
- You want the auto-dev feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and auto-dev fits your workflow better
About NvChad
NvChad is a Neovim configuration framework written in Lua that provides a base configuration with polished defaults and a beautiful UI, aimed at developers who want a fast, preconfigured editor without assembling a configuration from scratch.
read the full NvChad overview →
About auto-dev
AutoDev is an AI native, multi agent development platform built on Kotlin Multiplatform that lets developers run coding, review, and document workflows from IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code, the CLI, desktop, mobile, or the web.
read the full auto-dev overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or auto-dev more popular?
NvChad has 28,504 GitHub stars and auto-dev has 4,548. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and auto-dev free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and auto-dev under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and auto-dev?
NvChad is written in Lua and auto-dev in Kotlin. 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 auto-dev?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,504 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose auto-dev if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.