head to head · open source
rtk vs Continue
rtk has 80,883 GitHub stars, 5,130 forks, 1,642 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Continue has 35,948 stars, 5,398 forks, 951 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. rtk leads on adoption by 125% (80,883 vs 35,948 stars). rtk is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Continue is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. rtk has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Continue 15%. rtk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (cli, developer-tools, open-source), 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
| rtk | Continue | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 36K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 5.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rtk if
- You weight community size — 81K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Continue if
- You want the Continue feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Continue fits your workflow better
About rtk
rtk is an Apache 2.0 Rust CLI proxy that sits between an AI coding agent and the shell, filtering and compressing command output so 60 90% fewer tokens reach the model, and it is built for developers running agentic coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex against real repositories.
About Continue
Continue is an open source coding agent designed to assist developers directly within their IDE or terminal. It operates as a CLI tool, VS Code extension, and JetBrains plugin, enabling natural language interaction with codebases to generate, edit, and explain code. The project lives in the AI assisted developer tools ecosystem and is built with TypeScript under the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full Continue overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rtk or Continue more popular?
rtk has 80,883 GitHub stars and Continue has 35,948. rtk has the larger community by that measure.
Are rtk and Continue free?
Both are open source. rtk is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Continue under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rtk and Continue?
rtk is written in Rust and Continue 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, rtk or Continue?
Choose rtk if you want the larger community (80,883 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Continue if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.