head to head · open source
slate vs feathers
slate has 31,748 GitHub stars, 3,302 forks, 653 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. feathers has 15,263 stars, 798 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. slate leads on adoption by 108% (31,748 vs 15,263 stars). slate is written in TypeScript under MIT; feathers is written in TypeScript under MIT. slate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, feathers 5%. slate was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (browser, framework, javascript), 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
| slate | feathers | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 798 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick slate if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick feathers if
- You want the feathers feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and feathers fits your workflow better
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 →
About feathers
Feathers is a full stack framework for creating web APIs and real time applications with TypeScript or JavaScript. It lives in the Node.js and npm ecosystem, and it is published as a set of packages, with the core available as @feathersjs/feathers . The project has existed for roughly 15 years and is maintained under the MIT license by its contributors.
read the full feathers overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is slate or feathers more popular?
slate has 31,748 GitHub stars and feathers has 15,263. slate has the larger community by that measure.
Are slate and feathers free?
Both are open source. slate is licensed under MIT and feathers under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between slate and feathers?
slate is written in TypeScript and feathers 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, slate or feathers?
Choose slate if you want the larger community (31,748 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose feathers if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.