head to head · open source
react vs Palform
react has 252,095 GitHub stars, 51,624 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Palform has 49 stars, 2 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. react leads on adoption by 514,380% (252,095 vs 49 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; Palform is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. react has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, Palform 4%. Palform 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 | Palform | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 252K | ★ 49 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 2 |
| 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 Palform if
- You want the Palform feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Palform 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 Palform
Palform is a form builder that's: open source end to end encrypted privacy focussed (minimal third party scripts) full featured free to use online on our European hosted secure servers Our entire codebase is open source, including our marketing pages. This repository contains everything needed to operate the service. Architecture Palform is made up of several Rust and JS components. We use Rust with the Rocket framework and SeaORM on the backend. This helps maintain very high performance; the observed memory and CPU consumption in practice has been practically zero. Although implementing features is arguably…
read the full Palform overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or Palform more popular?
react has 252,095 GitHub stars and Palform has 49. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and Palform free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT and Palform under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react and Palform?
react is written in JavaScript and Palform 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 Palform?
Choose react if you want the larger community (252,095 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Palform if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.