head to head · open source
Orca vs Dyad
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars, 4,642 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dyad has 21,575 stars, 2,636 forks, 359 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca leads on adoption by 229% (71,017 vs 21,575 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; Dyad is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Orca has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Dyad 12%. Orca 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
| Orca | Dyad | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 22K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 2.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Orca if
- You weight community size — 71K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Dyad if
- You want the Dyad feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Dyad fits your workflow better
About Orca
Orca is an agent desktop environment (ADE) that runs multiple AI coding agents in parallel, each in its own isolated git worktree. It unifies workflow, monitoring, and collaboration around AI assisted coding across desktop, mobile, and remote runtimes. Built for developers who rely on several AI coding tools simultaneously, Orca eliminates context switching by tracking all agents and their outputs in one place.
About Dyad
Dyad is a local, open source AI app builder for developer tools and AI assisted coding. It is positioned as a desktop alternative to hosted builders such as Lovable, v0, and Bolt, running on the user's own machine. The project is written in TypeScript and distributed through a public GitHub repository under a split license: code outside src/pro is Apache 2.0, while code inside src/pro is Functional Source License 1.1 Apache 2.0.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or Dyad more popular?
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars and Dyad has 21,575. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and Dyad free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT, and Dyad has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Orca and Dyad?
Orca is written in TypeScript and Dyad 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, Orca or Dyad?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (71,017 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Dyad if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.