head to head · open source
react vs portal
react has 251,853 GitHub stars, 51,576 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. portal has 1,039 stars, 93 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. react leads on adoption by 24,140% (251,853 vs 1,039 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; portal is written in Clojure under MIT. react has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, portal 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 | portal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 252K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Clojure |
| Last push | 2026-10-25 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 93 |
| 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 portal if
- You want the portal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Clojure
- You evaluated both and portal 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 portal
portal A clojure tool to navigate through your data. [![cljdoc][cljdoc badge]][cljdoc] [![Clojars Project][clojars badge]][clojars] [![PyPI][pypi badge]][pypi] [![VS Code Extension][vscode badge]][vscode] [![Version][intellij badge]][intellij] [![Get help on Slack][clojurians badge]][clojurians] The portal UI can be used to inspect values of various shapes and sizes. The UX will probably evolve over time and user feedback is welcome! For an in depth explanation of the UI, you can jump to the [UI][ui concepts] docs. Demo To get an overview of the Portal UI and workflow, checkout the following recording of a [live…
read the full portal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or portal more popular?
react has 251,853 GitHub stars and portal has 1,039. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and portal free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT and portal under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react and portal?
react is written in JavaScript and portal in Clojure. 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 portal?
Choose react if you want the larger community (251,853 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose portal if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.