head to head · open source
vscode vs monaco-editor
vscode has 192,700 GitHub stars, 42,805 forks, 21,181 open issues and last shipped today. monaco-editor has 46,779 stars, 4,132 forks, 859 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. vscode leads on adoption by 312% (192,700 vs 46,779 stars). vscode is written in TypeScript under MIT; monaco-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT. vscode has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, monaco-editor 9%. vscode was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (editor, typescript), 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
| vscode | monaco-editor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 193K | ★ 47K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 43K | ⑂ 4.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vscode if
- You weight community size — 193K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick monaco-editor if
- You want the monaco-editor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and monaco-editor fits your workflow better
About vscode
Visual Studio Code is Microsoft's open source code editor — the Code OSS repository, written in TypeScript on Electron and released under the MIT license — and it serves two audiences: developers who want a lightweight editor covering the core edit build debug cycle on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and contributors who want to work directly on the editor, its roadmap, and its extensions.
read the full vscode overview →
About monaco-editor
Monaco Editor is the fully featured code editor from VS Code, packaged as an npm library so that developers can embed the same editing experience inside their own browser based applications.
read the full monaco-editor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vscode or monaco-editor more popular?
vscode has 192,700 GitHub stars and monaco-editor has 46,779. vscode has the larger community by that measure.
Are vscode and monaco-editor free?
Both are open source. vscode is licensed under MIT and monaco-editor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vscode and monaco-editor?
vscode is written in TypeScript and monaco-editor 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, vscode or monaco-editor?
Choose vscode if you want the larger community (192,700 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose monaco-editor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.