head to head · open source
rowboat vs sre
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sre has 1,293 stars, 202 forks, 35 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 1,285% (17,914 vs 1,293 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; sre is written in TypeScript under MIT. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, sre 16%. rowboat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (agents, ai, ai-agents, chatgpt), 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 | sre | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-04-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 202 |
| 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 sre if
- You want the sre feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and sre 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 sre
The SmythOS Runtime Environment (SRE) is an open source, cloud native runtime, SDK, and command line interface that developers use to build, run, and manage agentic AI across local, cloud, and edge environments.
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or sre more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and sre has 1,293. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and sre free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sre under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and sre?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and sre 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 sre?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (17,914 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose sre if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.