head to head · open source
openapi-generator vs kiota
openapi-generator has 26,846 GitHub stars, 7,749 forks, 5,810 open issues and last shipped today. kiota has 3,844 stars, 346 forks, 222 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openapi-generator leads on adoption by 598% (26,846 vs 3,844 stars). openapi-generator is written in Java under Apache-2.0; kiota is written in C# under MIT. openapi-generator has attracted 29% as many forks as stars, kiota 9%. openapi-generator was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (api, hacktoberfest, openapi, openapi3), 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
| openapi-generator | kiota | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 346 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick openapi-generator if
- You weight community size — 27K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick kiota if
- You want the kiota feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and kiota fits your workflow better
About openapi-generator
OpenAPI Generator Master ( 7.28.0 ): :star::star::star: If you would like to contribute, please refer to guidelines and a list of open tasks. :star::star::star: :bangbang: To migrate from Swagger Codegen to OpenAPI Generator, please refer to the migration guide :bangbang: :notebook with decorative cover: For more information, please refer to the Wiki page and FAQ :notebook with decorative cover: :notebook with decorative cover: The eBook A Beginner's Guide to Code Generation for REST APIs is a good starting point for beginners :notebook with decorative cover: :warning: If the OpenAPI spec, templates or any input…
read the full openapi-generator overview →
About kiota
Project Kiota is a command line tool for generating an API client to call any OpenAPI described API you are interested in. The goal is to eliminate the need to take a dependency on a different API SDK for every API that you need to call. Kiota API clients provide a strongly typed experience with all the features you expect from a high quality API SDK, but without having to learn a new library for every HTTP API. This library builds on top of the Microsoft.OpenAPI.NET library to ensure comprehensive support for APIs that use OpenAPI descriptions. One of the goals of the project is to provide the best code…
read the full kiota overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is openapi-generator or kiota more popular?
openapi-generator has 26,846 GitHub stars and kiota has 3,844. openapi-generator has the larger community by that measure.
Are openapi-generator and kiota free?
Both are open source. openapi-generator is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kiota under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between openapi-generator and kiota?
openapi-generator is written in Java and kiota in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, openapi-generator or kiota?
Choose openapi-generator if you want the larger community (26,846 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kiota if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.