head to head · open source
Orca vs Jean
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars, 4,642 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jean has 1,282 stars, 159 forks, 146 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca leads on adoption by 5,440% (71,017 vs 1,282 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; Jean is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Orca has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Jean 12%. 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 | Jean | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 159 |
| 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 Jean if
- You want the Jean 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 Jean 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 Jean
Jean is a native desktop application for managing AI assisted software development across multiple projects. It works with Claude CLI, Codex CLI, Cursor CLI, OpenCode, PI, Command Code, Grok, and Kimi Code, and it lives in the developer tools and AI assisted coding ecosystem, where agents are driven through local command line interfaces rather than through a hosted service.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or Jean more popular?
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars and Jean has 1,282. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and Jean free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT and Jean under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Orca and Jean?
Orca is written in TypeScript and Jean 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 Jean?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (71,017 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Jean if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.