head to head · open source
ponytail vs rea-video
ponytail has 188,313 GitHub stars, 10,467 forks, 270 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. rea-video has 6,262 stars, 895 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ponytail leads on adoption by 2,907% (188,313 vs 6,262 stars). ponytail is written in JavaScript under MIT; rea-video is written in Python under Apache-2.0. ponytail has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, rea-video 14%. rea-video was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agent-skills, claude-code, prompt-engineering), 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
| ponytail | rea-video | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 188K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 895 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ponytail if
- You weight community size — 188K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rea-video if
- You want the rea-video feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and rea-video 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 rea-video
Reverse engineer any video. Shot by shot: was it filmed, AI generated or coded, and how to remake it. Website 中文 English Русский 日本語 한국어 Español Português Français Deutsch ⭐ Help more people find rea video. Star this repo! Left: a TikTok ad shot on a phone. Right: an AI remake with another product. rea video's verdict: the left is all live footage, one set and two camera positions; the right is all AI, 8 shots across 3 generations. Quick start rea video is built for AI agents. In Claude Code, Codex or any agent that can run commands, say: The agent installs the CLI, learns the workflow and runs the whole thing…
read the full rea-video overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ponytail or rea-video more popular?
ponytail has 188,313 GitHub stars and rea-video has 6,262. ponytail has the larger community by that measure.
Are ponytail and rea-video free?
Both are open source. ponytail is licensed under MIT and rea-video under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ponytail and rea-video?
ponytail is written in JavaScript and rea-video in Python. 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 rea-video?
Choose ponytail if you want the larger community (188,313 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rea-video if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.