head to head · open source
pi vs qwen-code
pi has 119,586 GitHub stars, 15,353 forks, 202 open issues and last shipped yesterday. qwen-code has 28,894 stars, 3,298 forks, 1,422 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pi leads on adoption by 314% (119,586 vs 28,894 stars). pi is written in TypeScript under MIT; qwen-code is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. pi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, qwen-code 11%. pi 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
| pi | qwen-code | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 29K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pi if
- You weight community size — 120K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick qwen-code if
- You want the qwen-code feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and qwen-code fits your workflow better
About pi
New issues and PRs from new contributors are auto closed by default. Maintainers review auto closed issues daily. See CONTRIBUTING.md. Pi Agent Harness This is the home of the Pi agent harness project including our self extensible coding agent. @earendil works/pi coding agent : Interactive coding agent CLI @earendil works/pi agent core : Agent runtime with tool calling and state management @earendil works/pi ai : Unified multi provider LLM API (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, …) To learn more about Pi: Visit pi.dev, the project website with demos Read the documentation, but you can also ask the agent to explain…
About qwen-code
The open source AI coding agent for your terminal, editor, desktop, browser, and chat. 中文 Deutsch français 日本語 Русский Português (Brasil) 한국어 Why Qwen Code? Agentic out of the box — Auto Memory, Auto Skills, SubAgents, Agent Teams, and MCP. Dynamic workflows, zero setup. Open source, inside and out — The framework and the Qwen models are open source. They evolve together. No vendor lock in. Multi protocol — Supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and Qwen APIs. Any third party provider or local model (Ollama / vLLM). Switch at runtime. Beyond the terminal — IDE plugins, Desktop app, Web UI, SDKs, and chat…
read the full qwen-code overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pi or qwen-code more popular?
pi has 119,586 GitHub stars and qwen-code has 28,894. pi has the larger community by that measure.
Are pi and qwen-code free?
Both are open source. pi is licensed under MIT and qwen-code under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pi and qwen-code?
pi is written in TypeScript and qwen-code 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, pi or qwen-code?
Choose pi if you want the larger community (119,586 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose qwen-code if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.