head to head · open source
qwen-code vs claude-skills
qwen-code has 27,997 GitHub stars, 3,076 forks, 1,422 open issues and last shipped today. claude-skills has 26,158 stars, 3,685 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. qwen-code leads on adoption by 7% (27,997 vs 26,158 stars). qwen-code is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; claude-skills is written in Python under MIT. qwen-code has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, claude-skills 14%. qwen-code 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
| qwen-code | claude-skills | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 26K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-08-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 3.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick qwen-code if
- You weight community size — 28K 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 claude-skills if
- You want the claude-skills feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and claude-skills fits your workflow better
About qwen-code
Qwen Code is an open source AI coding agent that runs in the terminal, with additional interfaces for editors, desktop, browser, and chat. It is written in TypeScript and released under the Apache 2.0 license, and it lives in the AI and machine learning ecosystem as a development platform for agentic coding. The project is maintained by QwenLM and published on npm as @qwen code/qwen code , with a documentation site hosted at qwenlm.github.io. It ships as a command line tool named qwen that opens an interactive session inside a project directory.
read the full qwen-code overview →
About claude-skills
claude skills is an MIT licensed library of 388 Claude Code skills, plugins, and agent skills that packages domain expertise for AI coding agents, aimed at developers and teams running Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, and nine other coding agents.
read the full claude-skills overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is qwen-code or claude-skills more popular?
qwen-code has 27,997 GitHub stars and claude-skills has 26,158. qwen-code has the larger community by that measure.
Are qwen-code and claude-skills free?
Both are open source. qwen-code is licensed under Apache-2.0 and claude-skills under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between qwen-code and claude-skills?
qwen-code is written in TypeScript and claude-skills 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, qwen-code or claude-skills?
Choose qwen-code if you want the larger community (27,997 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose claude-skills if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.