head to head · open source
rowboat vs hof
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars, 1,817 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hof has 615 stars, 48 forks, 74 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 2,848% (18,131 vs 615 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; hof is written in Go under Apache-2.0. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, hof 8%. rowboat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
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Side by side
| rowboat | hof | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 615 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-05-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 48 |
| 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 hof if
- You want the hof feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and hof 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…
read the full rowboat overview →
About hof
hof the higher order framework A tool that unifies data models, schemas, code generation, and a task engine. hof is a CLI tool you add to your workflow. Foundation in CUE Deterministic and Agentic code generation Data models that can evolve and be input to code generation Task engine based on cue/flow Agent servers and VS Code extension hof uses CUE to power the DX and implementation. We believe CUE is a great language for specifying schemas, configuration, and generally for writing anything declarative or this is a source of truth. It has good theory and comes from the same people that brought us containers…
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or hof more popular?
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars and hof has 615. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and hof free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hof under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and hof?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and hof in Go. 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 hof?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (18,131 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hof if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.