head to head · open source
open-design vs Hey
open-design has 105,526 GitHub stars, 12,030 forks, 1,090 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hey has 29,353 stars, 1,808 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. open-design leads on adoption by 260% (105,526 vs 29,353 stars). open-design is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Hey is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. open-design has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Hey 6%. 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 | Hey | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 106K | ★ 29K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-design if
- You weight community size — 106K 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 Hey if
- You want the Hey feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Hey fits your workflow better
About open-design
OpenDesign: The open source Claude Design alternative ⚡ OpenDesign Cloud — the official model service. One recharge to use both agent and image models inside OpenDesign: GPT, Claude, and DeepSeek for agents; GPT Image 2.0, Seedream 5.0 Pro, and Nano Banana 2.0 for images. 🚀 DeepSeek V4 Flash and V4 Pro are now available. Put top tier intelligence to work across prototypes, decks, design systems, and everyday agent tasks. OpenDesign members can use both models without limits for two weeks, directly inside the app. 🧩 DeepSeek Harness is now supported. Connect DeepSeek's official dsh agent harness to OpenDesign…
read the full open-design overview →
About Hey
Hey.xyz Hey is a decentralized and permissionless social media application built with Lens Protocol. Open Source Snapshot Notice This repository represents the last publicly available open source version of Hey.xyz before May 15, 2026 . Development and changes made to Hey.xyz after May 15, 2026 are currently not open source and are not included in this repository. This repository is therefore preserved as a historical open source snapshot of the Hey.xyz codebase as it existed before that date. About Hey is a decentralized social network built on top of the Lens Protocol. The application provides a social…
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Frequently asked questions
Is open-design or Hey more popular?
open-design has 105,526 GitHub stars and Hey has 29,353. open-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-design and Hey free?
Both are open source. open-design is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Hey under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-design and Hey?
open-design is written in TypeScript and Hey 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, open-design or Hey?
Choose open-design if you want the larger community (105,526 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Hey if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.