head to head · open source
serenity vs slate
serenity has 33,840 GitHub stars, 3,541 forks, 739 open issues and last shipped yesterday. slate has 31,748 stars, 3,302 forks, 653 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. serenity leads on adoption by 7% (33,840 vs 31,748 stars). serenity is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; slate is written in TypeScript under MIT. serenity has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, slate 10%. serenity was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), 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
| serenity | slate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 32K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick serenity if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick slate if
- You want the slate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and slate fits your workflow better
About serenity
SerenityOS is a graphical Unix like operating system built for 64 bit x86, Arm, and RISC V computers. It is written in C++ and released under the BSD 2 Clause license, and it lives in the open source operating system ecosystem alongside other hobbyist and research kernels. The project describes itself as a love letter to 1990s user interfaces paired with a custom Unix like core, aiming for a marriage between the aesthetic of late 1990s productivity software and the power user accessibility of late 2000s Unix systems.
read the full serenity overview →
About slate
Slate is a completely customizable framework for building rich text editors, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT licence, for JavaScript and React developers who need an editor that goes well past what a fixed schema can offer.
read the full slate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is serenity or slate more popular?
serenity has 33,840 GitHub stars and slate has 31,748. serenity has the larger community by that measure.
Are serenity and slate free?
Both are open source. serenity is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and slate under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between serenity and slate?
serenity is written in C++ and slate 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, serenity or slate?
Choose serenity if you want the larger community (33,840 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose slate if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.