head to head · open source
Paperclip vs Tabby
Paperclip has 110,292 GitHub stars, 18,270 forks, 5,464 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tabby has 33,921 stars, 1,793 forks, 335 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Paperclip leads on adoption by 225% (110,292 vs 33,921 stars). Paperclip is written in TypeScript under MIT; Tabby is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. Paperclip has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, Tabby 5%. 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
| Paperclip | Tabby | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 34K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 18K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Paperclip if
- You weight community size — 110K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Tabby if
- You want the Tabby feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Tabby fits your workflow better
About Paperclip
Quickstart · Docs · GitHub · Discord · Twitter · Website Paperclip is the app people use to manage AI agents for work. Open source orchestration for teams of AI agents. If OpenClaw is an employee , Paperclip is the company . Paperclip is a Node.js server and React UI that orchestrates a team of AI agents to run a business. Bring your own agents, assign goals, and track work and costs from one dashboard. It looks like a task manager. Under the hood: org charts, budgets, governance, goal alignment, and agent coordination. Manage business goals, not pull requests. Works with…
read the full Paperclip overview →
About Tabby
🐾 Tabby 📚 Docs • 💬 Slack • 🗺️ Roadmap English 简体中文 日本語 Tabby is a self hosted AI coding assistant, offering an open source and on premises alternative to GitHub Copilot. It boasts several key features: Self contained, with no need for a DBMS or cloud service. OpenAPI interface, easy to integrate with existing infrastructure (e.g Cloud IDE). Supports consumer grade GPUs. 🔥 What's New 12/12/2025 Get your GitHub issues implemented by connecting them to Pochi tasks and create PRs directly from the sidebar with a breakdown of CI/Lint/Test results vscode@0.20.0. 07/02/2025 v0.30 supports indexing GitLab Merge…
read the full Tabby overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Paperclip or Tabby more popular?
Paperclip has 110,292 GitHub stars and Tabby has 33,921. Paperclip has the larger community by that measure.
Are Paperclip and Tabby free?
Both are open source. Paperclip is licensed under MIT, and Tabby has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Paperclip and Tabby?
Paperclip is written in TypeScript and Tabby in Rust. 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 Tabby?
Choose Paperclip if you want the larger community (110,292 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Tabby if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.