head to head · open source
open-design vs zag
open-design has 107,674 GitHub stars, 12,241 forks, 1,090 open issues and last shipped today. zag has 5,278 stars, 312 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped yesterday. open-design leads on adoption by 1,940% (107,674 vs 5,278 stars). open-design is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; zag is written in TypeScript under MIT. open-design has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, zag 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.
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Side by side
| open-design | zag | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 108K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-15 | 2026-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 312 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-design if
- You weight community size — 108K 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 zag if
- You want the zag feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and zag 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 zag
Zag Finite state machines for accessible JavaScript components Write once, use everywhere 🦄 : The component interactions are modelled in a framework agnostic way. We provide adapters for JS frameworks like React, Solid, Svelte, or Vue. Focus on accessibility ♿️ : Zag is built with accessibility in mind. We handle many details related to keyboard interactions, focus management, aria roles and attributes. Headless ✨ : The machine APIs are completely unstyled and gives you the control to use any styling solution you prefer. Powered by state machines 🌳 : Zag is built on top of the latest ideas in Statecharts. We…
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Frequently asked questions
Is open-design or zag more popular?
open-design has 107,674 GitHub stars and zag has 5,278. open-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-design and zag free?
Both are open source. open-design is licensed under Apache-2.0 and zag under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-design and zag?
open-design is written in TypeScript and zag 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 zag?
Choose open-design if you want the larger community (107,674 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose zag if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.