head to head · open source
rea vs Hexabot
rea has 422,352 GitHub stars, 105,329 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hexabot has 1,152 stars, 235 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rea leads on adoption by 36,563% (422,352 vs 1,152 stars). rea is written in TypeScript under MIT; Hexabot is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. rea has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, Hexabot 20%. rea was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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
| rea | Hexabot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 422K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 105K | ⑂ 235 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rea if
- You weight community size — 422K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Hexabot if
- You want the Hexabot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Hexabot fits your workflow better
About rea
English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Türkçe · Русский · Tiếng Việt · ไทย · Deutsch · Español · Français · Українська · Polski · Português (Brasil) · العربية · فارسی REA: Reverse Engineer Anything One MCP for reverse engineering across binaries, applications, and runtime behavior. See a feature you like. Understand how it works, down to the binary level. Website · Guides · Showcases Quick start · How REA works · What you can analyze · Showcases · FAQ · Documentation npx rea agents setup Join the Reverse Engineering Community Discord · Q&A · Show and Tell See a feature in an app that you want in your own product?…
About Hexabot
Automate the Boring, Keep the Magic Build and run agentic workflows across channels with YAML, tools, MCP, memory and RAG. Website · Documentation · Extensions · Discord Hexabot v3 is an automation platform with first class AI capabilities, combining workflows, actions, and conversational channels in one runtime. Quick Start Prerequisites Node.js ^24.17.0 One package manager ( npm , pnpm , yarn , or bun ) Docker (optional, for Docker based services) This Quick Start targets projects generated with the CLI. If you are contributing to the Hexabot monorepo itself, use PNPM (see CONTRIBUTING.md). 1) Install the CLI…
read the full Hexabot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rea or Hexabot more popular?
rea has 422,352 GitHub stars and Hexabot has 1,152. rea has the larger community by that measure.
Are rea and Hexabot free?
Both are open source. rea is licensed under MIT, and Hexabot has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between rea and Hexabot?
rea is written in TypeScript and Hexabot 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, rea or Hexabot?
Choose rea if you want the larger community (422,352 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Hexabot if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.