head to head · open source
react vs herdr
react has 250,566 GitHub stars, 51,372 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped yesterday. herdr has 39,446 stars, 2,974 forks, 337 open issues and last shipped yesterday. react leads on adoption by 535% (250,566 vs 39,446 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; herdr is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. react has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, herdr 8%. herdr 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 | herdr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 251K | ★ 39K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 51K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| 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 herdr if
- You want the herdr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and herdr 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 herdr
herdr is a terminal first runtime for coding agents — a single Rust binary that owns the terminals in which tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and Grok run, aimed at developers who keep agents working across local and remote machines and want those sessions to survive a lost SSH connection or a closed client.
read the full herdr overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or herdr more popular?
react has 250,566 GitHub stars and herdr has 39,446. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and herdr free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT and herdr under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react and herdr?
react is written in JavaScript and herdr in Rust. 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 herdr?
Choose react if you want the larger community (250,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose herdr if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.