head to head · open source
slate vs mocha
slate has 31,748 GitHub stars, 3,302 forks, 653 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. mocha has 22,894 stars, 3,151 forks, 222 open issues and last shipped yesterday. slate leads on adoption by 39% (31,748 vs 22,894 stars). slate is written in TypeScript under MIT; mocha is written in JavaScript under MIT. slate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, mocha 14%. mocha was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (browser, 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 | mocha | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 23K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| 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 mocha if
- You want the mocha feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and mocha 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 mocha
Mocha is a classic, reliable and trusted test framework for Node.js and the browser, distributed as an open source JavaScript module under the MIT licence and aimed at JavaScript developers and package maintainers who need to write and run automated tests inside a Node.js process or in a browser environment.
read the full mocha overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is slate or mocha more popular?
slate has 31,748 GitHub stars and mocha has 22,894. slate has the larger community by that measure.
Are slate and mocha free?
Both are open source. slate is licensed under MIT and mocha under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between slate and mocha?
slate is written in TypeScript and mocha in JavaScript. 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 mocha?
Choose slate if you want the larger community (31,748 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mocha if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.