head to head · open source
rowboat vs sidequest
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sidequest has 1,015 stars, 25 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 1,665% (17,914 vs 1,015 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; sidequest is written in TypeScript under LGPL-3.0. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, sidequest 2%. rowboat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| rowboat | sidequest | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 25 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rowboat if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick sidequest if
- You want the sidequest feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and sidequest fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat is an open source desktop AI coworker, licensed Apache 2.0 and written in TypeScript, that maintains a memory of your work as a local Markdown knowledge graph and provides built in surfaces — email, notes, browser, code mode, meeting notes — for acting on that memory.
read the full rowboat overview →
About sidequest
Sidequest is a Redis free background job processor for Node.js that persists jobs in the PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, or MongoDB database an application already runs, aimed at teams that need durable, distributed queue processing without operating Redis.
read the full sidequest overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or sidequest more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and sidequest has 1,015. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and sidequest free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sidequest under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and sidequest?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and sidequest 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, rowboat or sidequest?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (17,914 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose sidequest if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.