head to head · open source
Orca vs Frontman
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars, 4,642 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Frontman has 698 stars, 51 forks, 236 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca leads on adoption by 10,074% (71,017 vs 698 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; Frontman is written in ReScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Orca has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Frontman 7%. 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 | Frontman | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 698 |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | ReScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 51 |
| 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 Frontman if
- You want the Frontman feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches ReScript
- You evaluated both and Frontman 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 Frontman
Frontman is an open source AI coding agent that runs inside your browser and edits your project's real source files from a live view of the running application, built for product managers, designers, and frontend developers who need small frontend fixes without opening an IDE.
read the full Frontman overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or Frontman more popular?
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars and Frontman has 698. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and Frontman free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT, and Frontman has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Orca and Frontman?
Orca is written in TypeScript and Frontman in ReScript. 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 Frontman?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (71,017 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Frontman if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.