head to head · open source
Orca vs rtk
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars, 7,169 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rtk has 85,327 stars, 5,462 forks, 1,642 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca leads on adoption by 33% (113,485 vs 85,327 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; rtk is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Orca has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, rtk 6%. Orca was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| Orca | rtk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 113K | ★ 85K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.2K | ⑂ 5.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Orca if
- You weight community size — 113K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rtk if
- You want the rtk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rtk fits your workflow better
About Orca
Orca 中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português The AI Orchestrator for 100x builders. Run Codex, ClaudeCode, OpenCode or Pi side by side — each in its own worktree, tracked in one place. Download Orca Features Mobile Companion Monitor and steer your agents from your phone — get notified when an agent finishes and send follow ups from anywhere. iOS App Store · TestFlight · Android APK 0.0.48 · Docs → Parallel Worktrees Fan one prompt across five agents, each in its own isolated git worktree — compare the results and merge the winner. Docs → Terminal Splits Ghostty class terminals with WebGL rendering…
About rtk
High performance CLI proxy that cuts up to 90% of the bash output your agent reads Website • Install • Troubleshooting • Architecture • Discord English • Francais • 中文 • 日本語 • 한국어 • Espanol • Português rtk filters and compresses command outputs before they reach your LLM context. Single Rust binary, 100+ supported commands, Full explanation: How RTK Savings Work Installation Homebrew (recommended) winget (Windows) Easiest way to install on Windows — one command, no PATH setup needed: Quick Install (Linux/macOS) Installs to /.local/bin . Add to PATH if needed…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or rtk more popular?
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars and rtk has 85,327. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and rtk free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT and rtk under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Orca and rtk?
Orca is written in TypeScript and rtk 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, Orca or rtk?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (113,485 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rtk if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.