head to head · open source
NvChad vs ccls
NvChad has 28,506 GitHub stars, 2,218 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. ccls has 4,090 stars, 280 forks, 194 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 597% (28,506 vs 4,090 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; ccls is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, ccls 7%. NvChad 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 | ccls | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 4.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-07-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 280 |
| 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 ccls if
- You want the ccls feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and ccls 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 ccls
ccls is an open source C, C++, and Objective C language server for developers who want cross references, code hierarchies, completion, and semantic highlighting inside an LSP compatible editor.
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or ccls more popular?
NvChad has 28,506 GitHub stars and ccls has 4,090. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and ccls free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ccls under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and ccls?
NvChad is written in Lua and ccls 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 ccls?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,506 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ccls if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.