head to head · open source
Orca vs T3 Code
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars, 4,642 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. T3 Code has 22,945 stars, 5,817 forks, 1,628 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca leads on adoption by 210% (71,017 vs 22,945 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; T3 Code is written in TypeScript under MIT. Orca has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, T3 Code 25%. T3 Code 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 | T3 Code | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 23K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 5.8K |
| 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 T3 Code if
- You want the T3 Code feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and T3 Code 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 T3 Code
T3 Code is an open source agent harness control surface for AI assisted coding. It lives in the developer tools ecosystem for local coding agents, and it gives users one interface for agents that are already installed and authenticated on their own computer. The project is written in TypeScript and is MIT licensed.
read the full T3 Code overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or T3 Code more popular?
Orca has 71,017 GitHub stars and T3 Code has 22,945. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and T3 Code free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT and T3 Code under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Orca and T3 Code?
Orca is written in TypeScript and T3 Code 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 T3 Code?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (71,017 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose T3 Code if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.