head to head · open source
rowboat vs hcom
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hcom has 507 stars, 79 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 3,433% (17,914 vs 507 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; hcom is written in Rust under MIT. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, hcom 16%. rowboat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai, 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 | hcom | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 507 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 79 |
| 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 hcom if
- You want the hcom feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and hcom 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 hcom
hcom is a Rust CLI that lets AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Kilo Code, Pi, Oh My Pi, Antigravity, Cursor, Kimi, Copilot, and Gemini message, watch, and spawn one another across terminals, aimed at developers who already run more than one agent at a time.
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or hcom more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and hcom has 507. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and hcom free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hcom under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and hcom?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and hcom in Rust. 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 hcom?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (17,914 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hcom if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.