head to head · open source
ponytail vs cua
ponytail has 182,259 GitHub stars, 10,044 forks, 270 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. cua has 31,536 stars, 2,331 forks, 926 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ponytail leads on adoption by 478% (182,259 vs 31,536 stars). ponytail is written in JavaScript under MIT; cua is written in Rust under MIT. ponytail has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, cua 7%. cua 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
| ponytail | cua | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 182K | ★ 32K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ponytail if
- You weight community size — 182K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cua if
- You want the cua feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and cua fits your workflow better
About ponytail
Ponytail He says nothing. He writes one line. It works. 54% less code (up to 94%) · 20% cheaper · 27% faster · 100% safe Measured on real Claude Code sessions editing a real open source repo (FastAPI + React), against the same agent with no skill. 54% is the mean across 12 feature tasks (Haiku 4.5, n=4); it reaches 94% where an agent over builds (a date picker) and is near zero where the code is already minimal. ponytail keeps every safety guard while a bare "write one liners" prompt drops one. (The earlier single shot benchmark reported 80 94% as a flat figure; against a fair agentic…
read the full ponytail overview →
About cua
Give AI agents computers they can use. Cua provides open source desktop automation, isolated cloud desktops, local macOS VMs, and benchmarks for evaluating computer use agents. Try Cua Fleets now at run.cua.ai Choose your path Cua Fleets: Provision a Linux desktop, run a command, and save a screenshot. Cua Driver: Operate Calculator and verify its result. Lume: Create a Tahoe VM and connect over SSH. Cua Bench: Create and verify a simulated task. You bring the agent and model. Cua provides the computer and automation tools. Computer Use 2.0 describes an agent moving between code, APIs, and graphical interfaces…
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Frequently asked questions
Is ponytail or cua more popular?
ponytail has 182,259 GitHub stars and cua has 31,536. ponytail has the larger community by that measure.
Are ponytail and cua free?
Both are open source. ponytail is licensed under MIT and cua under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ponytail and cua?
ponytail is written in JavaScript and cua 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, ponytail or cua?
Choose ponytail if you want the larger community (182,259 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cua if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.