head to head · open source
vscode vs fresh
vscode has 194,494 GitHub stars, 44,389 forks, 21,181 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fresh has 9,394 stars, 372 forks, 369 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vscode leads on adoption by 1,970% (194,494 vs 9,394 stars). vscode is written in TypeScript under MIT; fresh is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. vscode has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, fresh 4%. vscode 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
| vscode | fresh | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 194K | ★ 9.4K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 44K | ⑂ 372 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vscode if
- You weight community size — 194K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fresh if
- You want the fresh feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and fresh fits your workflow better
About vscode
Visual Studio Code Open Source ("Code OSS") The Repository This repository (" Code OSS ") is where we (Microsoft) develop the Visual Studio Code product together with the community. Not only do we work on code and issues here, but we also publish our roadmap, monthly iteration plans, and our endgame plans. This source code is available to everyone under the standard MIT license. Visual Studio Code Visual Studio Code is a distribution of the Code OSS repository with Microsoft specific customizations released under a traditional Microsoft product license. Visual Studio Code combines the simplicity of a code editor…
read the full vscode overview →
About fresh
Fresh A modern, full featured terminal text editor, with zero configuration . Familiar keybindings, mouse support, and IDE level features — no learning curve required. Official Website · Documentation · Discord · Contributing Quick Install: curl fsSL sh Fresh brings the intuitive UX of VS Code and Sublime Text to the terminal. Standard keybindings, full mouse support, menus, and a command palette — everything works the way you'd expect, right out of the box. No modes, no memorizing shortcuts. Built for real world performance: Fresh handles multi gigabyte files with negligible memory overhead and delivers…
read the full fresh overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vscode or fresh more popular?
vscode has 194,494 GitHub stars and fresh has 9,394. vscode has the larger community by that measure.
Are vscode and fresh free?
Both are open source. vscode is licensed under MIT and fresh under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vscode and fresh?
vscode is written in TypeScript and fresh in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, vscode or fresh?
Choose vscode if you want the larger community (194,494 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose fresh if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.