head to head · open source
univer vs octo-server
univer has 14,417 GitHub stars, 1,303 forks, 151 open issues and last shipped today. octo-server has 1,059 stars, 165 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. univer leads on adoption by 1,261% (14,417 vs 1,059 stars). univer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; octo-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0. univer has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, octo-server 16%. univer was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), 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
| univer | octo-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 165 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick univer if
- You weight community size — 14K 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 octo-server if
- You want the octo-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and octo-server fits your workflow better
About univer
Univer is an open source, full stack office SDK for building spreadsheet, document and presentation interfaces inside your own product. Rather than shipping an end user office suite, it gives developers the primitives — a Canvas based renderer, a formula engine, a plugin architecture and a single Facade API — to embed spreadsheet and document editing into a web application or run the same logic headlessly on Node.js.
read the full univer overview →
About octo-server
octo server is the Go backend at the centre of OCTO, an open workplace built for humans and AI agents, and it is aimed at teams that want to self host a collaboration platform where Lobster agents participate in conversations as first class members.
read the full octo-server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is univer or octo-server more popular?
univer has 14,417 GitHub stars and octo-server has 1,059. univer has the larger community by that measure.
Are univer and octo-server free?
Both are open source. univer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and octo-server under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between univer and octo-server?
univer is written in TypeScript and octo-server in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, univer or octo-server?
Choose univer if you want the larger community (14,417 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose octo-server if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.