head to head · open source
NvChad vs phoenix
NvChad has 28,510 GitHub stars, 2,217 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. phoenix has 2,998 stars, 205 forks, 266 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NvChad leads on adoption by 851% (28,510 vs 2,998 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; phoenix is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, phoenix 7%. phoenix 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 | phoenix | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-10-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 205 |
| 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 phoenix if
- You want the phoenix feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and phoenix 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 phoenix
Phoenix is a free, open source text editor for web developers that runs in the browser and aims to make editing JavaScript, HTML, and CSS feel as approachable as playing a video game.
read the full phoenix overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or phoenix more popular?
NvChad has 28,510 GitHub stars and phoenix has 2,998. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and phoenix free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and phoenix under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and phoenix?
NvChad is written in Lua and phoenix in JavaScript. 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 phoenix?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,510 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose phoenix if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.