head to head · open source
Orca vs Emdash
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars, 7,169 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Emdash has 6,154 stars, 658 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca leads on adoption by 1,744% (113,485 vs 6,154 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; Emdash is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Orca has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Emdash 11%. Orca was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (claude-code), 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
| Orca | Emdash | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 113K | ★ 6.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.2K | ⑂ 658 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Orca if
- You weight community size — 113K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Emdash if
- You want the Emdash 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 Emdash fits your workflow better
About Orca
Orca 中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português The AI Orchestrator for 100x builders. Run Codex, ClaudeCode, OpenCode or Pi side by side — each in its own worktree, tracked in one place. Download Orca Features Mobile Companion Monitor and steer your agents from your phone — get notified when an agent finishes and send follow ups from anywhere. iOS App Store · TestFlight · Android APK 0.0.48 · Docs → Parallel Worktrees Fan one prompt across five agents, each in its own isolated git worktree — compare the results and merge the winner. Docs → Terminal Splits Ghostty class terminals with WebGL rendering…
About Emdash
Download · Docs · Releases · Discord · Contributing Emdash is a desktop app for running AI coding agents in parallel. Each task runs in its own Git worktree, so you can explore multiple fixes or features at once, review the diffs, and merge what works. It works with local projects and remote machines over SSH. Bring the CLI agents you already use: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Amp, and more. What You Can Do Run multiple coding agents at once without juggling terminals. Keep every agent isolated in its own Git worktree and branch. Send issues and tickets from Linear, GitHub, Jira, GitLab, Asana, Featurebase…
read the full Emdash overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or Emdash more popular?
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars and Emdash has 6,154. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and Emdash free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT and Emdash under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Orca and Emdash?
Orca is written in TypeScript and Emdash 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 Emdash?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (113,485 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Emdash if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.