head to head · open source
Refine vs aaPanel
Refine has 35,688 GitHub stars, 3,214 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. aaPanel has 3,058 stars, 762 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. Refine leads on adoption by 1,067% (35,688 vs 3,058 stars). Refine is written in TypeScript under MIT; aaPanel is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Refine has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, aaPanel 25%. Refine 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
| Refine | aaPanel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-10 | 2026-08-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 762 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Refine if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick aaPanel if
- You want the aaPanel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and aaPanel fits your workflow better
About Refine
Refine is an open source React meta framework for building CRUD heavy internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and B2B applications. It operates in the React ecosystem and targets developers who need structured, scalable frontends without the constraints of low code platforms or the overhead of building everything from scratch.
read the full Refine overview →
About aaPanel
aaPanel is a web based hosting control panel for Linux servers, distributed from the aaPanel GitHub repository under the infrastructure and operations category. It is written in JavaScript and installs on top of an existing Linux operating system, where it presents a graphical interface for managing the web server rather than requiring administrators to edit configuration files by hand. The project sits in the Linux server management ecosystem alongside the Apache, Nginx, MySQL, PHP and Docker tooling that it installs and administers. Its stated design goal is simplicity combined with power: a single panel that c…
read the full aaPanel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Refine or aaPanel more popular?
Refine has 35,688 GitHub stars and aaPanel has 3,058. Refine has the larger community by that measure.
Are Refine and aaPanel free?
Both are open source. Refine is licensed under MIT, and aaPanel has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Refine and aaPanel?
Refine is written in TypeScript and aaPanel in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Refine or aaPanel?
Choose Refine if you want the larger community (35,688 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose aaPanel if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.