head to head · open source
Refine vs Cosmos Server
Refine has 35,688 GitHub stars, 3,214 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Cosmos Server has 6,158 stars, 249 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. Refine leads on adoption by 480% (35,688 vs 6,158 stars). Refine is written in TypeScript under MIT; Cosmos Server is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Refine has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Cosmos Server 4%. 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 | Cosmos Server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 6.2K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-10 | 2026-09-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 249 |
| 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 Cosmos Server if
- You want the Cosmos Server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Cosmos Server 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 Cosmos Server
Cosmos Server is a self hosted cloud platform written in Go that acts as a secure gateway and server manager for a home server. It lives in the self hosting and infrastructure ecosystem, and it is distributed primarily as a Docker image ( azukaar/cosmos server ) with a web UI for managing applications from any device. The project bundles a reverse proxy, an authentication server, a container manager, a storage manager, a VPN, backups, monitoring, and an app store into a single control plane, and it is published under a NOASSERTION license with a homepage at cosmos cloud.io.
read the full Cosmos Server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Refine or Cosmos Server more popular?
Refine has 35,688 GitHub stars and Cosmos Server has 6,158. Refine has the larger community by that measure.
Are Refine and Cosmos Server free?
Both are open source. Refine is licensed under MIT, and Cosmos Server has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Refine and Cosmos Server?
Refine is written in TypeScript and Cosmos Server in Go. 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 Cosmos Server?
Choose Refine if you want the larger community (35,688 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Cosmos Server if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.