head to head · open source
NvChad vs denova
NvChad has 28,517 GitHub stars, 2,213 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. denova has 973 stars, 151 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 2,831% (28,517 vs 973 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; denova is written in Go under Apache-2.0. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, denova 16%. denova 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 | denova | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 973 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-24 | 2026-10-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 151 |
| 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 denova if
- You want the denova feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and denova 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 denova
Denova 是一个面向小说写作与 AI 角色扮演游戏的一体化 AI 创作平台，内置 AI Agents、Skills、SubAgent 协作、自动化、图像生成与项目版本管理 English 中文 当前版本： v0.6.3 （2026 10 20） · Beta · 下载最新版本 查看更多界面截图 游戏 资料库 创作方案 修改审阅 工作台 支持局域网连接、手机自适应布局和 PWA 应用。 为什么选择 Denova Denova 把小说写作、互动故事、结构化资料库、AI Agent、图像生成、自动化和本地版本管理放进同一个工作区，适合需要长期维护设定、反复修改并持续积累内容的创作项目。 你可以从一个灵感开始新书，导入已有小说继续创作，也可以使用角色卡和资料库搭建可分支的文字冒险。Agent 能读取项目内容、调用工具并修改文件，所有重要变更仍可检查、撤销和恢复。 核心能力 小说写作 ：Markdown 文档与源码编辑、多文档 Tab、查找替换、大纲与章节细纲、进度追踪、正文评论、修改审阅和现有小说导入。 创作 Agent ：支持 Native、Codex 和 Claude Code，结合当前选区、项目文件、图片和资料库进行创作；支持多会话、SubAgent 协作和任务暂停恢复。 互动游戏
read the full denova overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or denova more popular?
NvChad has 28,517 GitHub stars and denova has 973. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and denova free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and denova under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and denova?
NvChad is written in Lua and denova in Go. 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 denova?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,517 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose denova if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.