head to head · open source
refined-github vs Linguist
refined-github has 32,187 GitHub stars, 1,914 forks, 80 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Linguist has 1,061 stars, 50 forks, 267 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. refined-github leads on adoption by 2,934% (32,187 vs 1,061 stars). refined-github is written in TypeScript under MIT; Linguist is written in TypeScript under BSD-3-Clause. refined-github has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Linguist 5%. refined-github was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (browser-extension, chrome-extension, firefox-addon), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| refined-github | Linguist | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 50 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick refined-github if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Linguist if
- You want the Linguist feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Linguist fits your workflow better
About refined-github
Refined GitHub is an MIT licensed browser extension written in TypeScript that simplifies the GitHub interface and adds useful features, built for developers and teams who spend their working day inside GitHub and want the small missing conveniences fixed without waiting for the platform itself to change.
read the full refined-github overview →
About Linguist
Linguist is an open source browser extension, written in TypeScript and released under the BSD 3 Clause licence, that translates web pages, highlighted text, subtitles, and text inputs directly inside the browser. It lives in the browser extension ecosystem, with builds for Firefox, Chrome, and other browsers that support extensions, and it positions itself as a standalone translation system rather than a thin wrapper around a commercial translation widget. The project declares support for 130 languages and publishes its documentation and downloads through linguister.io and its GitHub releases page.…
read the full Linguist overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is refined-github or Linguist more popular?
refined-github has 32,187 GitHub stars and Linguist has 1,061. refined-github has the larger community by that measure.
Are refined-github and Linguist free?
Both are open source. refined-github is licensed under MIT and Linguist under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between refined-github and Linguist?
refined-github is written in TypeScript and Linguist in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, refined-github or Linguist?
Choose refined-github if you want the larger community (32,187 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Linguist if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.