head to head · open source
caveman vs Paperclip
caveman has 111,034 GitHub stars, 6,430 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Paperclip has 100,269 stars, 16,896 forks, 5,464 open issues and last shipped yesterday. caveman leads on adoption by 11% (111,034 vs 100,269 stars). caveman is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Paperclip is written in TypeScript under MIT. caveman has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Paperclip 17%. Paperclip 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
| caveman | Paperclip | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 111K | ★ 100K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 17K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caveman if
- You weight community size — 111K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Paperclip if
- You want the Paperclip feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Paperclip fits your workflow better
About caveman
caveman is a free, open source skill and local proxy for AI coding agents that compresses what the agent writes and reads, cutting token usage by around 65% without touching code, commands, or error messages.
read the full caveman overview →
About Paperclip
Paperclip is an open source orchestration platform for managing teams of AI agents in production environments. It lives in the Node.js and React ecosystem and is licensed under MIT. The project addresses the operational chaos that arises when deploying multiple autonomous AI agents—such as OpenClaw, Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor—across an organization. Without coordination, teams face untraceable workflows, runaway costs, misaligned goals, and poor governance. Paperclip solves this by providing a unified dashboard that enforces org structure, budget controls, goal alignment, and auditability across heterogeneous …
read the full Paperclip overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caveman or Paperclip more popular?
caveman has 111,034 GitHub stars and Paperclip has 100,269. caveman has the larger community by that measure.
Are caveman and Paperclip free?
Both are open source. caveman is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Paperclip under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caveman and Paperclip?
caveman is written in Go and Paperclip 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, caveman or Paperclip?
Choose caveman if you want the larger community (111,034 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Paperclip if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.