head to head · open source
cobalt vs openvidu
cobalt has 43,661 GitHub stars, 3,825 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. openvidu has 2,129 stars, 477 forks, 103 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. cobalt leads on adoption by 1,951% (43,661 vs 2,129 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; openvidu is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, openvidu 22%. openvidu 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
| cobalt | openvidu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Svelte | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 477 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cobalt if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Svelte
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick openvidu if
- You want the openvidu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openvidu fits your workflow better
About cobalt
cobalt is a media downloader built around a single promise: paste a link, get the file, move on. It is a monorepo containing the source for an API, a web frontend, and related packages, written primarily in Svelte and TypeScript. The project lives in the modern web and JavaScript ecosystem, and its public surface is hosted at cobalt.tools, while the full codebase is published under the AGPL 3.0 license.
read the full cobalt overview →
About openvidu
OpenVidu is an open source platform for building real time video and audio applications. It lives in the TypeScript, WebRTC, and collaboration software ecosystem, and it is built on LiveKit and mediasoup. The project gives teams a self hosted base for video conferencing, rooms, chat, and media workflows under an Apache 2.0 license.
read the full openvidu overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or openvidu more popular?
cobalt has 43,661 GitHub stars and openvidu has 2,129. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and openvidu free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and openvidu under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and openvidu?
cobalt is written in Svelte and openvidu 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, cobalt or openvidu?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (43,661 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose openvidu if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.