head to head · open source
penguin-harness vs sandboxd
penguin-harness has 2,305 GitHub stars, 245 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped today. sandboxd has 946 stars, 60 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. penguin-harness leads on adoption by 144% (2,305 vs 946 stars). penguin-harness is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; sandboxd is written in Go under MIT. penguin-harness has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, sandboxd 6%. penguin-harness was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, 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
| penguin-harness | sandboxd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.3K | ★ 946 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 245 | ⑂ 60 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick penguin-harness if
- You weight community size — 2.3K 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 sandboxd if
- You want the sandboxd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and sandboxd fits your workflow better
About penguin-harness
PenguinHarness is an open source, local first, multi agent auto development platform that runs on a developer's own computer or server and automates the full lifecycle of AI agent applications — creation, evaluation, optimization, and deployment — under the Apache 2.0 licence.
read the full penguin-harness overview →
About sandboxd
sandboxd is an open source, self hosted AI app builder that runs a coding agent inside isolated sandboxes on your own server and gives every generated app its own live preview URL, and it is built for developers and teams who want the prompt to app workflow of hosted builders without giving up their infrastructure, code, or data.
read the full sandboxd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is penguin-harness or sandboxd more popular?
penguin-harness has 2,305 GitHub stars and sandboxd has 946. penguin-harness has the larger community by that measure.
Are penguin-harness and sandboxd free?
Both are open source. penguin-harness is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sandboxd under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between penguin-harness and sandboxd?
penguin-harness is written in TypeScript and sandboxd 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, penguin-harness or sandboxd?
Choose penguin-harness if you want the larger community (2,305 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose sandboxd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.