head to head · open source
rowboat vs agent-swarm
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars, 1,817 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. agent-swarm has 992 stars, 145 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rowboat leads on adoption by 1,728% (18,131 vs 992 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; agent-swarm is written in TypeScript under MIT. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, agent-swarm 15%. agent-swarm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, claude-code), 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
| rowboat | agent-swarm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 992 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 145 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rowboat if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agent-swarm if
- You want the agent-swarm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and agent-swarm fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat A desktop AI coworker with a memory of your work and built in surfaces to act on it. 简体中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português Rowboat indexes your work into a living knowledge graph and uses that to get work done on your machine. It includes work surfaces for collaborating with AI: email client, notes, browser, code mode, meeting note taker, and workspaces for different projects. Download latest for Mac/Windows/Linux: Download Demo apps to code · Demo knowledge graph ⭐ If you find Rowboat useful, please star the repo. It helps more people find it. Overview Brain Rowboat indexes email, meetings…
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About agent-swarm
An engine to make your company AI Native Built by desplega.sh . [!TIP] This repo evolves every single day. Watch now → ▸ daily evolution · slack → pr · Making of agent swarm.dev is an open source operating system for AI work. A lead agent delegates goals to workers such as Claude Code or Codex. Isolated containers, shared memory, tools, schedules, and review gates preserve work across sessions. What you get A lead agent that receives work from Slack, repositories, issue trackers, email, or the API Schema validated task results for callers that need structured JSON output Deferred tasks that wake when all or any…
read the full agent-swarm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or agent-swarm more popular?
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars and agent-swarm has 992. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and agent-swarm free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and agent-swarm under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and agent-swarm?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and agent-swarm 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, rowboat or agent-swarm?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (18,131 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose agent-swarm if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.