head to head · open source
open-design vs designcraft
open-design has 100,551 GitHub stars, 11,583 forks, 1,090 open issues and last shipped yesterday. designcraft has 2,909 stars, 1,850 forks, 301 open issues and last shipped yesterday. open-design leads on adoption by 3,357% (100,551 vs 2,909 stars). open-design is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; designcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. open-design has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, designcraft 64%. open-design was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| open-design | designcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 101K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-design if
- You weight community size — 101K 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 designcraft if
- You want the designcraft feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and designcraft fits your workflow better
About open-design
OpenDesign is an open source, local first desktop design application for macOS and Windows that turns the coding agent already installed on a developer's machine into the design engine, producing prototypes, dashboards, decks, images, and motion graphics as real files exported to HTML, PDF, PPTX, and MP4.
read the full open-design overview →
About designcraft
DesignCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe InDesign written in pure Rust, aimed at designers and developers who want professional page layout and publishing without a subscription.
read the full designcraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is open-design or designcraft more popular?
open-design has 100,551 GitHub stars and designcraft has 2,909. open-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-design and designcraft free?
Both are open source. open-design is licensed under Apache-2.0 and designcraft under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-design and designcraft?
open-design is written in TypeScript and designcraft in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, open-design or designcraft?
Choose open-design if you want the larger community (100,551 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose designcraft if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.