head to head · open source
TipTap vs Onlook
TipTap has 38,424 GitHub stars, 3,123 forks, 846 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Onlook has 26,752 stars, 2,101 forks, 380 open issues and last shipped 24 days ago. TipTap leads on adoption by 44% (38,424 vs 26,752 stars). TipTap is written in TypeScript under MIT; Onlook is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. TipTap has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Onlook 8%. TipTap was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (editor), 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
| TipTap | Onlook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 27K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick TipTap if
- You weight community size — 38K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Onlook if
- You want the Onlook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Onlook fits your workflow better
About TipTap
Tiptap is a headless, framework agnostic rich text editor framework built on ProseMirror. It provides the core editing logic and state management without imposing a user interface, allowing developers to build custom editing experiences tailored to their design systems. It lives in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and integrates with React, Vue, or plain JavaScript projects.
read the full TipTap overview →
About Onlook
Onlook is an open source, Apache 2.0 visual editor for Next.js and TailwindCSS projects that lets designers and developers edit a running React app in the browser while the underlying code changes in real time.
read the full Onlook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is TipTap or Onlook more popular?
TipTap has 38,424 GitHub stars and Onlook has 26,752. TipTap has the larger community by that measure.
Are TipTap and Onlook free?
Both are open source. TipTap is licensed under MIT and Onlook under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between TipTap and Onlook?
TipTap is written in TypeScript and Onlook 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, TipTap or Onlook?
Choose TipTap if you want the larger community (38,424 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Onlook if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.