head to head · open source
ToolJet vs rea
ToolJet has 41,051 GitHub stars, 5,485 forks, 1,204 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rea has 29,472 stars, 3,500 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped today. ToolJet leads on adoption by 39% (41,051 vs 29,472 stars). ToolJet is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; rea is written in TypeScript under MIT. ToolJet has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, rea 12%. rea 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
| ToolJet | rea | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 29K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ToolJet if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rea if
- You want the rea feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and rea fits your workflow better
About ToolJet
ToolJet is an open source low code platform for building internal tools—admin panels, dashboards, and operational applications—by connecting to existing databases, APIs, and SaaS systems. It lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and is licensed under AGPL 3.0.
read the full ToolJet overview →
About rea
REA is an open source MCP server and CLI that lets AI coding agents — and your terminal — reverse engineer native binaries, JavaScript and Electron apps, .NET assemblies, and websites, with evidence attached to every conclusion.
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Frequently asked questions
Is ToolJet or rea more popular?
ToolJet has 41,051 GitHub stars and rea has 29,472. ToolJet has the larger community by that measure.
Are ToolJet and rea free?
Both are open source. ToolJet is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and rea under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ToolJet and rea?
ToolJet is written in JavaScript and rea 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, ToolJet or rea?
Choose ToolJet if you want the larger community (41,051 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose rea if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.