head to head · open source
rtk vs Orca
rtk has 81,060 GitHub stars, 5,138 forks, 1,642 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca has 72,812 stars, 4,763 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped today. rtk leads on adoption by 11% (81,060 vs 72,812 stars). rtk is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT. rtk has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Orca 7%. Orca was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (claude-code, cli), 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
| rtk | Orca | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 73K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 4.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rtk if
- You weight community size — 81K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Orca if
- You want the Orca feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Orca fits your workflow better
About rtk
rtk is an Apache 2.0 Rust CLI proxy that sits between an AI coding agent and the shell, filtering and compressing command output so 60 90% fewer tokens reach the model, and it is built for developers running agentic coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex against real repositories.
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.
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Frequently asked questions
Is rtk or Orca more popular?
rtk has 81,060 GitHub stars and Orca has 72,812. rtk has the larger community by that measure.
Are rtk and Orca free?
Both are open source. rtk is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Orca under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rtk and Orca?
rtk is written in Rust and Orca 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, rtk or Orca?
Choose rtk if you want the larger community (81,060 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Orca if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.