head to head · open source
Twenty vs Horilla
Twenty has 56,947 GitHub stars, 9,143 forks, 205 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Horilla has 1,425 stars, 915 forks, 120 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Twenty leads on adoption by 3,896% (56,947 vs 1,425 stars). Twenty is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Horilla is written in HTML under LGPL-2.1. Twenty has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Horilla 64%. Twenty was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (javascript, open-source), 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
| Twenty | Horilla | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Custom / other | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | TypeScript | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 915 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Twenty if
- You weight community size — 57K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Horilla if
- You want the Horilla feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and Horilla fits your workflow better
About Twenty
Twenty is an open source CRM platform built for technical teams that need to design and deploy custom customer relationship management systems without vendor lock in. It provides a framework for defining data models, views, workflows, and AI powered agents entirely as code, enabling full version control and integration into existing development pipelines. The project lives in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and uses modern tooling including NestJS, React, PostgreSQL, and Redis.
read the full Twenty overview →
About Horilla
Horilla is an open source Human Resource Management System, or HRMS, built with Django, HTML, JavaScript, jQuery, and HTMX. It lives in the Python and Django ecosystem and is distributed under the LGPL 2.1 license. The project presents itself as a comprehensive HR platform for managing employee records, recruitment, onboarding, attendance, leave, payroll, performance, assets, and helpdesk workflows in one application.
read the full Horilla overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Twenty or Horilla more popular?
Twenty has 56,947 GitHub stars and Horilla has 1,425. Twenty has the larger community by that measure.
Are Twenty and Horilla free?
Both are open source. Twenty has no licence declared in this registry, and Horilla is licensed under LGPL-2.1. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Twenty and Horilla?
Twenty is written in TypeScript and Horilla in HTML. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Twenty or Horilla?
Choose Twenty if you want the larger community (56,947 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Horilla if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.