head to head · open source
rowboat vs osmedeus
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. osmedeus has 6,570 stars, 1,031 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 173% (17,914 vs 6,570 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; osmedeus is written in Go under MIT. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, osmedeus 16%. rowboat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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
| rowboat | osmedeus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 6.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rowboat if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick osmedeus if
- You want the osmedeus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and osmedeus fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat is an open source desktop AI coworker, licensed Apache 2.0 and written in TypeScript, that maintains a memory of your work as a local Markdown knowledge graph and provides built in surfaces — email, notes, browser, code mode, meeting notes — for acting on that memory.
read the full rowboat overview →
About osmedeus
Osmedeus is a security focused declarative orchestration engine written in Go and released under the MIT license. It turns complex security workflow automation into auditable YAML definitions, and it pairs that declarative model with encrypted data handling, secure credential management, and sandboxed execution. The project has been public for roughly eight years, carries about 6,563 stars and 1,030 forks, and lives in the penetration testing, reconnaissance, and attack surface management corner of the open source security ecosystem. It is distributed both as shell installed binaries and as the npm package @j3ssi…
read the full osmedeus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or osmedeus more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and osmedeus has 6,570. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and osmedeus free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and osmedeus under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and osmedeus?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and osmedeus in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, rowboat or osmedeus?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (17,914 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose osmedeus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.