head to head · open source
NvChad vs react-ace
NvChad has 28,490 GitHub stars, 2,218 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. react-ace has 4,206 stars, 598 forks, 217 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 577% (28,490 vs 4,206 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; react-ace is written in TypeScript under MIT. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, react-ace 14%. react-ace was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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
| NvChad | react-ace | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 598 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NvChad if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick react-ace if
- You want the react-ace feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and react-ace fits your workflow better
About NvChad
NvChad is a Neovim configuration framework written in Lua that provides a base configuration with polished defaults and a beautiful UI, aimed at developers who want a fast, preconfigured editor without assembling a configuration from scratch.
read the full NvChad overview →
About react-ace
React Ace is a set of React components that wrap the Ace code editor, published on npm under the MIT licence for developers who need an editable code surface inside a React application.
read the full react-ace overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or react-ace more popular?
NvChad has 28,490 GitHub stars and react-ace has 4,206. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and react-ace free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and react-ace under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and react-ace?
NvChad is written in Lua and react-ace 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, NvChad or react-ace?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,490 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose react-ace if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.