head to head · open source
Plane vs chat
Plane has 59,546 GitHub stars, 5,776 forks, 1,103 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chat has 13,508 stars, 2,078 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Plane leads on adoption by 341% (59,546 vs 13,508 stars). Plane is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; chat is written in Go under GPL-3.0. Plane has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, chat 15%. Plane 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
| Plane | chat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 60K | ★ 14K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Plane if
- You weight community size — 60K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick chat if
- You want the chat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and chat fits your workflow better
About Plane
Plane is an open source project management platform for teams that need to track issues, run cycles, and manage product roadmaps without handing their data to a proprietary SaaS vendor, and it is aimed at engineering, product, and operations teams that would otherwise pay for Jira, Linear, ClickUp, or Asana.
read the full Plane overview →
About chat
Tinode is an open source, full stack instant messaging server that pairs a Go backend with native iOS, Android, web, and command line clients, built for developers and operators who want to run or federate their own messaging platform rather than rent one.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Plane or chat more popular?
Plane has 59,546 GitHub stars and chat has 13,508. Plane has the larger community by that measure.
Are Plane and chat free?
Both are open source. Plane is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and chat under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Plane and chat?
Plane is written in TypeScript and chat 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, Plane or chat?
Choose Plane if you want the larger community (59,546 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose chat if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.