head to head · open source
Paperclip vs Frontman
Paperclip has 80,932 GitHub stars, 14,855 forks, 5,464 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Frontman has 698 stars, 51 forks, 236 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Paperclip leads on adoption by 11,495% (80,932 vs 698 stars). Paperclip is written in TypeScript under MIT; Frontman is written in ReScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Paperclip has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, Frontman 7%. Frontman 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
| Paperclip | Frontman | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 698 |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | ReScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 51 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Paperclip if
- You weight community size — 81K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Frontman if
- You want the Frontman feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches ReScript
- You evaluated both and Frontman fits your workflow better
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 →
About Frontman
Frontman is an open source AI coding agent that runs inside your browser and edits your project's real source files from a live view of the running application, built for product managers, designers, and frontend developers who need small frontend fixes without opening an IDE.
read the full Frontman overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Paperclip or Frontman more popular?
Paperclip has 80,932 GitHub stars and Frontman has 698. Paperclip has the larger community by that measure.
Are Paperclip and Frontman free?
Both are open source. Paperclip is licensed under MIT, and Frontman has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Paperclip and Frontman?
Paperclip is written in TypeScript and Frontman in ReScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Paperclip or Frontman?
Choose Paperclip if you want the larger community (80,932 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Frontman if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.