head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs claude-code.nvim
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars, 82,755 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. claude-code.nvim has 2,106 stars, 73 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 18,596% (393,747 vs 2,106 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; claude-code.nvim is written in Lua under MIT. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, claude-code.nvim 3%. OpenClaw 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
| OpenClaw | claude-code.nvim | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-02-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 73 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenClaw if
- You weight community size — 394K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick claude-code.nvim if
- You want the claude-code.nvim feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and claude-code.nvim fits your workflow better
About OpenClaw
OpenClaw 🦞 — Your assistant, on your devices, in your chats OpenClaw is an open source AI assistant that runs on your own computer and meets you in the channels you already use: Discord, iMessage, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp, and 20+ more, plus native apps for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux. One Gateway runs it as a personal assistant on a laptop or as a shared team deployment; configuration is the only difference. Yours, with no catch. State, memory, and credentials live on your hardware. Models and agent harnesses (Claude, Codex, local models) are plugins you can swap without changing anything…
read the full OpenClaw overview →
About claude-code.nvim
Claude Code Neovim Plugin A seamless integration between Claude Code AI assistant and Neovim Features • Requirements • Installation • Configuration • Usage • Contributing • Discussions This plugin was built entirely with Claude Code in a Neovim terminal, and then inside itself using Claude Code for everything! Features 🚀 Toggle Claude Code in a terminal window with a single key press 🧠 Support for command line arguments like continue and custom variants 🔄 Automatically detect and reload files modified by Claude Code ⚡ Real time buffer updates when files are changed externally 📱 Customizable window position…
read the full claude-code.nvim overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or claude-code.nvim more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars and claude-code.nvim has 2,106. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and claude-code.nvim free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and claude-code.nvim under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and claude-code.nvim?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and claude-code.nvim in Lua. 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 claude-code.nvim?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,747 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose claude-code.nvim if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.