head to head · open source
NvChad vs ecode
NvChad has 28,493 GitHub stars, 2,217 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. ecode has 1,680 stars, 29 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 1,596% (28,493 vs 1,680 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; ecode is written in Lua under MIT. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, ecode 2%. ecode 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 | ecode | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-09-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 29 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NvChad if
- You weight community size — 28K 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 ecode if
- You want the ecode feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and ecode 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 ecode
ecode is a lightweight, multi platform code editor built on the hardware accelerated eepp GUI for developers who want responsiveness and performance on modern hardware, released under the MIT licence.
read the full ecode overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or ecode more popular?
NvChad has 28,493 GitHub stars and ecode has 1,680. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and ecode free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ecode under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and ecode?
NvChad is written in Lua and ecode in Lua. 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 ecode?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,493 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ecode if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.