head to head · open source
rtk vs SWE-agent
rtk has 85,327 GitHub stars, 5,462 forks, 1,642 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SWE-agent has 20,712 stars, 2,264 forks, 102 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. rtk leads on adoption by 312% (85,327 vs 20,712 stars). rtk is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; SWE-agent is written in Python under MIT. rtk has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, SWE-agent 11%. rtk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (developer-tools, llm), 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 | SWE-agent | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 21K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rtk if
- You weight community size — 85K 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 SWE-agent if
- You want the SWE-agent feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and SWE-agent fits your workflow better
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…
About SWE-agent
[!warning] Most of our current development effort is on mini swe agent, which has superseded SWE agent. It matches the performance performance of SWE agent, while being much simpler. See the FAQ for more details about the differences. Our general recommendation is to use mini SWE agent instead of SWE agent going forward. SWE agent enables your language model of choice (e.g. GPT 4o or Claude Sonnet 4) to autonomously use tools to fix issues in real GitHub repositories, find cybersecurity vulnerabilities, or perform any custom task. ✅ State of the art on SWE bench among open source projects ✅ Free flowing &…
read the full SWE-agent overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rtk or SWE-agent more popular?
rtk has 85,327 GitHub stars and SWE-agent has 20,712. rtk has the larger community by that measure.
Are rtk and SWE-agent free?
Both are open source. rtk is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SWE-agent under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rtk and SWE-agent?
rtk is written in Rust and SWE-agent in Python. 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 SWE-agent?
Choose rtk if you want the larger community (85,327 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose SWE-agent if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.