head to head · open source
react vs carbon-now-cli
react has 250,566 GitHub stars, 51,372 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped yesterday. carbon-now-cli has 6,034 stars, 126 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. react leads on adoption by 4,053% (250,566 vs 6,034 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; carbon-now-cli is written in TypeScript under MIT. react has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, carbon-now-cli 2%. react 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
| react | carbon-now-cli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 251K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2025-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 51K | ⑂ 126 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick react if
- You weight community size — 251K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick carbon-now-cli if
- You want the carbon-now-cli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and carbon-now-cli fits your workflow better
About react
React is a JavaScript library under the MIT licence for building user interfaces, using a declarative, component based model that renders both on the web and, through React Native, on mobile.
read the full react overview →
About carbon-now-cli
carbon now cli is a TypeScript command line tool that turns source code into Carbon style images straight from the terminal, built for developers who need presentable code snippets for docs, slides, and social posts without opening a browser.
read the full carbon-now-cli overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or carbon-now-cli more popular?
react has 250,566 GitHub stars and carbon-now-cli has 6,034. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and carbon-now-cli free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT and carbon-now-cli under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react and carbon-now-cli?
react is written in JavaScript and carbon-now-cli 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, react or carbon-now-cli?
Choose react if you want the larger community (250,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose carbon-now-cli if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.