head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs sponge
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars, 81,978 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sponge has 2,867 stars, 271 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 13,502% (389,982 vs 2,867 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; sponge is written in Go under MIT. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, sponge 9%. 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 | sponge | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 390K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2025-12-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 82K | ⑂ 271 |
| 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 sponge if
- You want the sponge feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and sponge 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 sponge
Sponge is a Go development framework for building backend services through code generation. It lives in the Go ecosystem and integrates Gin, gRPC, GORM, and Protobuf. The project parses definitions written in SQL, Protobuf, or JSON configuration files into modular service code.
read the full sponge overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or sponge more popular?
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars and sponge has 2,867. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and sponge free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw has no licence declared in this registry, and sponge is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and sponge?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and sponge in Go. 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 sponge?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (389,982 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose sponge if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.