head to head · open source
NvChad vs windsurf.vim
NvChad has 28,502 GitHub stars, 2,217 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. windsurf.vim has 5,141 stars, 195 forks, 135 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 454% (28,502 vs 5,141 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; windsurf.vim is written in Vim Script under MIT. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, windsurf.vim 4%. NvChad was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ide, neovim), 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 | windsurf.vim | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 5.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | Vim Script |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-03-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 195 |
| 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 windsurf.vim if
- You want the windsurf.vim feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vim Script
- You evaluated both and windsurf.vim 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 windsurf.vim
windsurf.vim is the free, MIT licensed Vim Script plugin that brings Windsurf's AI code completion into Vim and Neovim, and it is aimed at developers who want Copilot style suggestions inside their terminal editor rather than in a separate IDE.
read the full windsurf.vim overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or windsurf.vim more popular?
NvChad has 28,502 GitHub stars and windsurf.vim has 5,141. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and windsurf.vim free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and windsurf.vim under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and windsurf.vim?
NvChad is written in Lua and windsurf.vim in Vim Script. 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 windsurf.vim?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,502 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose windsurf.vim if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.