head to head · open source
OpenHands vs Forgecode
OpenHands has 88,312 GitHub stars, 11,598 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Forgecode has 7,632 stars, 1,464 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenHands leads on adoption by 1,057% (88,312 vs 7,632 stars). OpenHands is written in TypeScript under MIT; Forgecode is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. OpenHands has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Forgecode 19%. OpenHands was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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
| OpenHands | Forgecode | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 88K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenHands if
- You weight community size — 88K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Forgecode if
- You want the Forgecode feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Forgecode fits your workflow better
About OpenHands
OpenHands is an open source platform that provides a self hosted control center—Agent Canvas—for managing and orchestrating autonomous AI coding agents. It lives in the developer tools and AI assisted coding ecosystem, designed to turn local or remote agents into a persistent, automated engineering team. The platform supports multiple agent backends and integrates with third party services to enable scheduled or event driven automation workflows.
read the full OpenHands overview →
About Forgecode
Forgecode is a terminal native AI coding agent written in Rust and built on ZSH that drives Claude, GPT, the O series, Grok, Deepseek, Gemini and more than 300 models through one command line interface, aimed at developers who want an AI pair programmer without leaving the shell.
read the full Forgecode overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenHands or Forgecode more popular?
OpenHands has 88,312 GitHub stars and Forgecode has 7,632. OpenHands has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenHands and Forgecode free?
Both are open source. OpenHands is licensed under MIT and Forgecode under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenHands and Forgecode?
OpenHands is written in TypeScript and Forgecode in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenHands or Forgecode?
Choose OpenHands if you want the larger community (88,312 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Forgecode if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.