head to head · open source
Onlook vs rune
Onlook has 26,910 GitHub stars, 2,129 forks, 380 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. rune has 1,249 stars, 92 forks, 100 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Onlook leads on adoption by 2,055% (26,910 vs 1,249 stars). Onlook is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; rune is written in Go under GPL-3.0. Onlook has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, rune 7%. rune was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, 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
| Onlook | rune | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-08-25 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 92 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Onlook if
- You weight community size — 27K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rune if
- You want the rune feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and rune fits your workflow better
About Onlook
Onlook is an open source, Apache 2.0 visual editor for Next.js and TailwindCSS projects that lets designers and developers edit a running React app in the browser while the underlying code changes in real time.
read the full Onlook overview →
About rune
Rune is a fast, GPU accelerated, full featured IDE and terminal multiplexer for developers who prefer a native application to a browser based editor and want the same environment on every machine they own.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Onlook or rune more popular?
Onlook has 26,910 GitHub stars and rune has 1,249. Onlook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Onlook and rune free?
Both are open source. Onlook is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rune under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Onlook and rune?
Onlook is written in TypeScript and rune 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, Onlook or rune?
Choose Onlook if you want the larger community (26,910 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rune if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.