head to head · open source
ActivePieces vs open-claude-cowork
ActivePieces has 24,584 GitHub stars, 4,214 forks, 573 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. open-claude-cowork has 4,359 stars, 735 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. ActivePieces leads on adoption by 464% (24,584 vs 4,359 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 17%. 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 | ★ 4.4K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-05-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 735 |
| 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
ActivePieces is an open source, TypeScript based no code automation platform for building AI workflows and exposing integrations as MCP servers, aimed at both technical and non technical users who want Zapier style automation while keeping control of their own data.
read the full ActivePieces overview →
About open-claude-cowork
Open Claude Cowork is an open source JavaScript desktop chat application in the Electron, Node.js, and Anthropic Claude ecosystem. It uses the Claude Agent SDK, Composio Tool Router, and MCP, and includes Secure Clawdbot for messaging platforms.
read the full open-claude-cowork overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ActivePieces or open-claude-cowork more popular?
ActivePieces has 24,584 GitHub stars and open-claude-cowork has 4,359. 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 (24,584 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.