head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs chatbox
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars, 81,978 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chatbox has 41,791 stars, 4,252 forks, 1,290 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 833% (389,982 vs 41,791 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; chatbox is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, chatbox 10%. OpenClaw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (assistant), 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
| OpenClaw | chatbox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 390K | ★ 42K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 82K | ⑂ 4.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenClaw if
- You weight community size — 390K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick chatbox if
- You want the chatbox 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 chatbox fits your workflow better
About OpenClaw
OpenClaw is an open source, self hosted AI assistant in the AI & Machine Learning / AI Interaction & Interfaces category that runs on hardware the user controls and meets them inside the messaging channels they already use, for individuals who want a personal assistant on a laptop and teams that want a shared deployment.
read the full OpenClaw overview →
About chatbox
Chatbox (Community Edition) is a cross platform desktop client for large language models, written in TypeScript and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it connects to a range of providers including OpenAI (ChatGPT), Azure OpenAI, Claude, Google Gemini Pro, Ollama and ChatGLM 6B. The project lives in the AI interaction and interfaces ecosystem, where desktop chat front ends sit between a user and one or more hosted or locally hosted model APIs. The repository carries 41,767 stars and 4,251 forks across four years of history.
read the full chatbox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or chatbox more popular?
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars and chatbox has 41,791. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and chatbox free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw has no licence declared in this registry, and chatbox is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and chatbox?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and chatbox 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, OpenClaw or chatbox?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (389,982 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose chatbox if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.