head to head · open source
react vs ctags
react has 251,033 GitHub stars, 51,505 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ctags has 7,296 stars, 671 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. react leads on adoption by 3,341% (251,033 vs 7,296 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; ctags is written in C under GPL-2.0. react has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, ctags 9%. 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 | ctags | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 251K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 671 |
| 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 ctags if
- You want the ctags feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and ctags 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 ctags
Universal Ctags is a maintained implementation of ctags that generates an index, or tag file, of the language objects found in source files, and it is aimed at developers and at the authors of text editors and other tools that need to locate those indexed items across many programming languages.
read the full ctags overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or ctags more popular?
react has 251,033 GitHub stars and ctags has 7,296. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and ctags free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT and ctags under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react and ctags?
react is written in JavaScript and ctags in C. 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 ctags?
Choose react if you want the larger community (251,033 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ctags if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.