head to head · open source
Refine vs OpenPanel
Refine has 35,981 GitHub stars, 3,266 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. OpenPanel has 767 stars, 113 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Refine leads on adoption by 4,591% (35,981 vs 767 stars). Refine is written in TypeScript under MIT; OpenPanel is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Refine has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, OpenPanel 15%. OpenPanel 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 | OpenPanel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 767 |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-10 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 113 |
| 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 OpenPanel if
- You want the OpenPanel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and OpenPanel 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 OpenPanel
OpenPanel Web Hosting Control Panel OpenPanel is a web hosting control panel built around containers. Every user gets a fully isolated environment: dedicated web server, dedicated database, private network, and scoped file storage delivering VPS grade security on shared hardware. Available as a free community edition and a fully supported commercial version. What is OpenPanel? OpenPanel is a web hosting control panel that uses containers to give every hosting user a completely isolated environment. Unlike traditional control panels that share a single Apache, MySQL, or PHP runtime across all users, OpenPanel…
read the full OpenPanel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Refine or OpenPanel more popular?
Refine has 35,981 GitHub stars and OpenPanel has 767. Refine has the larger community by that measure.
Are Refine and OpenPanel free?
Both are open source. Refine is licensed under MIT, and OpenPanel has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Refine and OpenPanel?
Refine is written in TypeScript and OpenPanel 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 OpenPanel?
Choose Refine if you want the larger community (35,981 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenPanel if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.