head to head · open source
vscodium vs sidex
vscodium has 33,935 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 146 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. sidex has 3,161 stars, 265 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. vscodium leads on adoption by 974% (33,935 vs 3,161 stars). vscodium is written in Shell under MIT; sidex is written in TypeScript under MIT. vscodium has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, sidex 8%. vscodium was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ide, vscode), 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
| vscodium | sidex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 3.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Shell | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-08-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 265 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vscodium if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick sidex if
- You want the sidex feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and sidex fits your workflow better
About vscodium
VSCodium Free/Libre Open Source Software Binaries of Visual Studio Code This is not a fork. This is a repository of scripts to automatically build Microsoft's vscode repository into freely licensed binaries with a community driven default configuration. Table of Contents Download/Install Install with Brew Install with Windows Package Manager (WinGet) Install with Chocolatey Install with Scoop Install with snap Install with Package Manager Install on Arch Linux Flatpak Option Build Why Does This Exist More Info Supported Platforms Previously Supported Platforms Download/Install :tada: :tada: Download latest…
read the full vscodium overview →
About sidex
SideX VSCode's workbench, without Electron. Why · What's Working · AI Agent · Getting Started · How It's Built · Contributing · Discord SideX is a port of Visual Studio Code that replaces Electron with Tauri — a Rust backend and OS's native webview. The same TypeScript workbench, the same editor, terminal, and Git integration, running without a bundled browser. Early release. Core editing and the terminal are solid. The extension host and debugger are still in progress. See What's Working for the full picture. Why VSCode's memory useage is almost entirely from its bundled Chromium, not the editor itself. Tauri…
read the full sidex overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vscodium or sidex more popular?
vscodium has 33,935 GitHub stars and sidex has 3,161. vscodium has the larger community by that measure.
Are vscodium and sidex free?
Both are open source. vscodium is licensed under MIT and sidex under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vscodium and sidex?
vscodium is written in Shell and sidex in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, vscodium or sidex?
Choose vscodium if you want the larger community (33,935 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose sidex if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.