head to head · open source
NvChad vs vim-config
NvChad has 28,511 GitHub stars, 2,215 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. vim-config has 1,977 stars, 448 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 1,342% (28,511 vs 1,977 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; vim-config is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, vim-config 23%. vim-config was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (dotfiles, ide, neovim, nvim), 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 | vim-config | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-10-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 448 |
| 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 vim-config if
- You want the vim-config feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and vim-config 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 vim-config
vim config is Rafael Bodill's personal Neovim configuration, a Lua based setup for developers who want a fast, language server driven editing environment and are willing to fork it and adapt it to their own habits.
read the full vim-config overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or vim-config more popular?
NvChad has 28,511 GitHub stars and vim-config has 1,977. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and vim-config free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and vim-config under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and vim-config?
NvChad is written in Lua and vim-config 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 vim-config?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,511 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vim-config if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.