head to head · open source
one-api vs Scalar
one-api has 36,932 GitHub stars, 6,867 forks, 1,036 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Scalar has 16,136 stars, 937 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped yesterday. one-api leads on adoption by 129% (36,932 vs 16,136 stars). one-api is written in JavaScript under MIT; Scalar is written in TypeScript under MIT. one-api has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, Scalar 6%. Scalar was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api), 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
| one-api | Scalar | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 16K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-01-09 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 937 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick one-api if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Scalar if
- You want the Scalar feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Scalar fits your workflow better
About one-api
One API is a self hosted LLM API management and key redistribution system that exposes many model providers through the standard OpenAI API format, aimed at developers, teams and operators who want a single endpoint, a single key model and a single quota surface across providers.
read the full one-api overview →
About Scalar
Scalar is open source API documentation and testing platform. It lives in TypeScript ecosystem, with Vue in topics, and targets REST API, OpenAPI, Swagger, API client, docs, http client, reference work. License is MIT. It gives interactive API reference from OpenAPI/Swagger documents, plus built in API testing tool. It also gives offline first API client built for OpenAPI.
read the full Scalar overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is one-api or Scalar more popular?
one-api has 36,932 GitHub stars and Scalar has 16,136. one-api has the larger community by that measure.
Are one-api and Scalar free?
Both are open source. one-api is licensed under MIT and Scalar under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between one-api and Scalar?
one-api is written in JavaScript and Scalar in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, one-api or Scalar?
Choose one-api if you want the larger community (36,932 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Scalar if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.