head to head · open source
cobalt vs octo-server
cobalt has 43,661 GitHub stars, 3,825 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. octo-server has 1,059 stars, 165 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. cobalt leads on adoption by 4,023% (43,661 vs 1,059 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; octo-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, octo-server 16%. octo-server was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), 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
| cobalt | octo-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Svelte | Go |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 165 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cobalt if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Svelte
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick octo-server if
- You want the octo-server 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 octo-server fits your workflow better
About cobalt
cobalt is a media downloader built around a single promise: paste a link, get the file, move on. It is a monorepo containing the source for an API, a web frontend, and related packages, written primarily in Svelte and TypeScript. The project lives in the modern web and JavaScript ecosystem, and its public surface is hosted at cobalt.tools, while the full codebase is published under the AGPL 3.0 license.
read the full cobalt overview →
About octo-server
octo server is the Go backend at the centre of OCTO, an open workplace built for humans and AI agents, and it is aimed at teams that want to self host a collaboration platform where Lobster agents participate in conversations as first class members.
read the full octo-server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or octo-server more popular?
cobalt has 43,661 GitHub stars and octo-server has 1,059. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and octo-server free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and octo-server under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and octo-server?
cobalt is written in Svelte and octo-server 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, cobalt or octo-server?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (43,661 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose octo-server if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.