head to head · open source
Refine vs aaPanel
Refine has 35,981 GitHub stars, 3,266 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. aaPanel has 3,077 stars, 765 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. Refine leads on adoption by 1,069% (35,981 vs 3,077 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%. aaPanel 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 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 765 |
| 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
Home Page Documentation Examples Discord Blog Refine The sweet spot between the low/no code and “starting from scratch” for CRUD heavy applications. Refine Core is an open source, React meta framework for enterprise. It provides a headless solution for everything from admin panels to dashboards and internal tools. Refine CORE also powers Refine's purpose built AI agent. What is Refine CORE? Refine CORE is a React meta framework for CRUD heavy web applications. It addresses a wide range of enterprise use cases including internal tools, admin panels, dashboards and B2B apps. Refine CORE's hooks and components…
read the full Refine overview →
About aaPanel
Official documentation Demo About aaPanel aaPanel is a simple but powerful hosting control panel , it can manage the web server through web based GUI(Graphical User Interface). one click function: such as one click install LNMP/LAMP developing environment and software. save the time: Our main goal is helping users to save the time of deploying, thus users just focus on their own project that is fine. Demo Demo： username: aapanel password: aapanel What can I do aaPanel is a server management software that supports the Linux system. It can easily manage the server through the Web terminal, improving the operation…
read the full aaPanel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Refine or aaPanel more popular?
Refine has 35,981 GitHub stars and aaPanel has 3,077. 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 (35,981 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose aaPanel if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.