head to head · open source
rowboat vs agent-swarm
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. agent-swarm has 810 stars, 105 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped today. rowboat leads on adoption by 2,112% (17,914 vs 810 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 13%. agent-swarm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-agents), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| rowboat | agent-swarm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 810 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 105 |
| 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 is an open source desktop AI coworker, licensed Apache 2.0 and written in TypeScript, that maintains a memory of your work as a local Markdown knowledge graph and provides built in surfaces — email, notes, browser, code mode, meeting notes — for acting on that memory.
read the full rowboat overview →
About agent-swarm
Agent Swarm is an MIT licensed, self hosted orchestration engine that runs a lead agent delegating goals to worker agents inside isolated Docker containers, built for teams that want their company to become AI native while keeping the work on their own infrastructure.
read the full agent-swarm overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or agent-swarm more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and agent-swarm has 810. 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 (17,914 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.