head to head · open source
react vs Neovim
react has 252,095 GitHub stars, 51,624 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Neovim has 103,312 stars, 7,395 forks, 1,900 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. react leads on adoption by 144% (252,095 vs 103,312 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; Neovim is written in Vim Script under a custom or non-standard licence. react has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, Neovim 7%. Neovim 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 | Neovim | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 252K | ★ 103K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | Vim Script |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 7.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick react if
- You weight community size — 252K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Neovim if
- You want the Neovim feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Vim Script
- You evaluated both and Neovim fits your workflow better
About react
React · React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. Declarative: React makes it painless to create interactive UIs. Design simple views for each state in your application, and React will efficiently update and render just the right components when your data changes. Declarative views make your code more predictable, simpler to understand, and easier to debug. Component Based: Build encapsulated components that manage their own state, then compose them to make complex UIs. Since component logic is written in JavaScript instead of templates, you can easily pass rich data through your app and…
read the full react overview →
About Neovim
Documentation Chat Neovim is a project that seeks to aggressively refactor Vim in order to: Simplify maintenance and encourage contributions Split the work between multiple developers Enable [advanced UIs] without modifications to the core Maximize extensibility See the Introduction wiki page and [Roadmap] for more information. Features Modern GUIs API access from any language including C/C++, C , Clojure, D, Elixir, Go, Haskell, Java/Kotlin, JavaScript/Node.js, Julia, Lisp, Lua, Perl, Python, Racket, Ruby, Rust Embedded, scriptable terminal emulator Asynchronous job control Shared data (shada) among multiple…
read the full Neovim overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or Neovim more popular?
react has 252,095 GitHub stars and Neovim has 103,312. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and Neovim free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT, and Neovim has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between react and Neovim?
react is written in JavaScript and Neovim in Vim Script. 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 Neovim?
Choose react if you want the larger community (252,095 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Neovim if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.