head to head · open source
ActivePieces vs open-claude-cowork
ActivePieces has 25,364 GitHub stars, 4,428 forks, 573 open issues and last shipped yesterday. open-claude-cowork has 4,309 stars, 702 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. ActivePieces leads on adoption by 489% (25,364 vs 4,309 stars). ActivePieces is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; open-claude-cowork is written in JavaScript under MIT. ActivePieces has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, open-claude-cowork 16%. ActivePieces was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (workflow-automation), 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
| ActivePieces | open-claude-cowork | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-05-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 702 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ActivePieces if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick open-claude-cowork if
- You want the open-claude-cowork feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and open-claude-cowork fits your workflow better
About ActivePieces
An open source replacement for Zapier Documentation 🌪️ Create a Piece 🖉 Deploy 🔥 Join Discord 🤯 Welcome to Activepieces All in one AI automation designed to be extensible through a type safe pieces framework written in TypeScript . When you contribute pieces to Activepieces they become automatically available as MCP servers that you can use with LLMs through Claude Desktop, Cursor or Windsurf! 🔥 Why Activepieces is Different: 💖 Loved by Everyone : Intuitive interface and great experience for both technical and non technical users with a quick learning curve. 🌐 Open Ecosystem: All pieces are open source…
read the full ActivePieces overview →
About open-claude-cowork
Open Claude Cowork An open source desktop chat application powered by Claude Agent SDK and Composio Tool Router. Automate your work end to end across desktop and all your work apps in one place. Get your free API key to get started → Pst. hey, you, join our stargazers :) What's Inside This repo includes two powerful AI tools: Both include 500+ app integrations via Composio (Gmail, Slack, GitHub, Google Drive, and more). Quick Start Open Claude Cowork Then run in two terminals: 🦑 Secure Clawdbot Select "Terminal chat" to test, or "Start gateway" to connect WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal/iMessage. See Secure Clawdbot…
read the full open-claude-cowork overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ActivePieces or open-claude-cowork more popular?
ActivePieces has 25,364 GitHub stars and open-claude-cowork has 4,309. ActivePieces has the larger community by that measure.
Are ActivePieces and open-claude-cowork free?
Both are open source. ActivePieces has no licence declared in this registry, and open-claude-cowork is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between ActivePieces and open-claude-cowork?
ActivePieces is written in TypeScript and open-claude-cowork in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ActivePieces or open-claude-cowork?
Choose ActivePieces if you want the larger community (25,364 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose open-claude-cowork if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.