head to head · open source
vant vs pencil
vant has 24,383 GitHub stars, 9,381 forks, 222 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pencil has 9,866 stars, 792 forks, 533 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. vant leads on adoption by 147% (24,383 vs 9,866 stars). vant is written in TypeScript under MIT; pencil is written in JavaScript under GPL-2.0. vant has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, pencil 8%. vant was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| vant | pencil | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-06-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.4K | ⑂ 792 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vant if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pencil if
- You want the pencil feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and pencil fits your workflow better
About vant
Vant is a lightweight, customizable Vue UI library for mobile web apps, built for front end developers and teams that ship mobile first interfaces with Vue 2 or Vue 3.
About pencil
Pencil is a free and open source diagramming and GUI prototyping tool, licensed under GPL 2.0, that lets designers and developers sketch wireframes, mockups, and diagrams on the desktop without a commercial licence.
read the full pencil overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vant or pencil more popular?
vant has 24,383 GitHub stars and pencil has 9,866. vant has the larger community by that measure.
Are vant and pencil free?
Both are open source. vant is licensed under MIT and pencil under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vant and pencil?
vant is written in TypeScript and pencil 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, vant or pencil?
Choose vant if you want the larger community (24,383 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pencil if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.