head to head · open source
open-design vs primitives
open-design has 97,331 GitHub stars, 11,300 forks, 1,090 open issues and last shipped yesterday. primitives has 19,309 stars, 1,247 forks, 356 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. open-design leads on adoption by 404% (97,331 vs 19,309 stars). open-design is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; primitives is written in TypeScript under MIT. open-design has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, primitives 6%. open-design was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (design-systems), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| open-design | primitives | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 97K | ★ 19K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-08-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-design if
- You weight community size — 97K 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 primitives if
- You want the primitives feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and primitives 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 primitives
Radix Primitives is an MIT licensed, TypeScript UI component library for React, maintained by WorkOS, that gives teams building design systems and web apps low level components focused on accessibility, customization and developer experience.
read the full primitives overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Design & Prototyping projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Design & Prototyping field.
Frequently asked questions
Is open-design or primitives more popular?
open-design has 97,331 GitHub stars and primitives has 19,309. open-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-design and primitives free?
Both are open source. open-design is licensed under Apache-2.0 and primitives under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-design and primitives?
open-design is written in TypeScript and primitives 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 primitives?
Choose open-design if you want the larger community (97,331 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose primitives if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.