head to head · open source
Rocket.Chat vs SubEthaEdit
Rocket.Chat has 46,136 GitHub stars, 13,893 forks, 4,023 open issues and last shipped today. SubEthaEdit has 1,431 stars, 115 forks, 93 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. Rocket.Chat leads on adoption by 3,124% (46,136 vs 1,431 stars). Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; SubEthaEdit is written in Objective-C under MIT. Rocket.Chat has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, SubEthaEdit 8%. Rocket.Chat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), 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
| Rocket.Chat | SubEthaEdit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Objective-C |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2025-11-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 115 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Rocket.Chat if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SubEthaEdit if
- You want the SubEthaEdit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Objective-C
- You evaluated both and SubEthaEdit fits your workflow better
About Rocket.Chat
Rocket.Chat is an open source, self hostable team communications platform written in TypeScript that gives organisations full ownership of their messaging, voice, and federation infrastructure instead of renting it from a closed SaaS vendor.
read the full Rocket.Chat overview →
About SubEthaEdit
SubEthaEdit General purpose plain text editor for macOS. Widely known for its live collaboration feature. github.com/subethaedit/SubEthaEdit is the main development repository. subethaedit.net is the base for the official releases in and out of the app store. Getting Started These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes. Prerequisites Development is done on most recent macOS and you are expected to have a apple developer account. Clone the repo, and switch to the develop branch Initialise the submodules by Edit the BuildConfig/Ident…
read the full SubEthaEdit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Rocket.Chat or SubEthaEdit more popular?
Rocket.Chat has 46,136 GitHub stars and SubEthaEdit has 1,431. Rocket.Chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are Rocket.Chat and SubEthaEdit free?
Both are open source. Rocket.Chat has no licence declared in this registry, and SubEthaEdit is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Rocket.Chat and SubEthaEdit?
Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript and SubEthaEdit in Objective-C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Rocket.Chat or SubEthaEdit?
Choose Rocket.Chat if you want the larger community (46,136 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose SubEthaEdit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.