head to head · open source
rtk vs Paseo
rtk has 80,930 GitHub stars, 5,134 forks, 1,642 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Paseo has 17,656 stars, 2,009 forks, 677 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rtk leads on adoption by 358% (80,930 vs 17,656 stars). rtk is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Paseo is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. rtk has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Paseo 11%. Paseo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (claude-code, developer-tools), 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 | Paseo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 18K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| 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 Paseo if
- You want the Paseo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Paseo 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 Paseo
Paseo is a developer tool for orchestrating coding agents from a phone, desktop, or terminal. It lives in the AI assisted coding ecosystem and presents one interface for Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, OpenCode, and Pi agents. The project centers on a local server called the daemon, which manages agents on the user's machine.
read the full Paseo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rtk or Paseo more popular?
rtk has 80,930 GitHub stars and Paseo has 17,656. rtk has the larger community by that measure.
Are rtk and Paseo free?
Both are open source. rtk is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Paseo has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between rtk and Paseo?
rtk is written in Rust and Paseo 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 Paseo?
Choose rtk if you want the larger community (80,930 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Paseo if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.