head to head · open source
wtf vs headlamp
wtf has 17,141 GitHub stars, 867 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. headlamp has 7,556 stars, 1,204 forks, 1,422 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. wtf leads on adoption by 127% (17,141 vs 7,556 stars). wtf is written in Go under MPL-2.0; headlamp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. wtf has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, headlamp 16%. headlamp was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (dashboard, devops), 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
| wtf | headlamp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-21 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 867 | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick wtf if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick headlamp if
- You want the headlamp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and headlamp fits your workflow better
About wtf
:rotating light: :warning: This project is going through some changes as we prepare for v1.0. This includes a rename from WTF to Tessera ! Stay tuned! :warning: :rotating light: WTF (aka 'wtfutil') is the personal information dashboard for your terminal, providing at a glance access to your very important but infrequently needed stats and data. Used by thousands of developers and tech people around the world, WTF is free and open source. To support the continued use and development of WTF, please consider sponsoring WTF via GitHub Sponsors. Are you a contributor or sponsor? Awesome! See here for how you can…
About headlamp
NOTICE: We have recently moved the project under the Kubernetes SIG UI (and the repo under the kubernetes sigs org). Container images are still at ghcr.io. Please bear with us while we may experience some broken links. Headlamp is an easy to use and extensible Kubernetes web UI. Headlamp was created to blend the traditional feature set of other web UIs/dashboards (i.e., to list and view resources) with added functionality. Features Vendor independent / generic Kubernetes UI Works in cluster, or locally as a desktop app Multi cluster Extensible through plugins UI controls reflecting user roles (no deletion/update…
read the full headlamp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is wtf or headlamp more popular?
wtf has 17,141 GitHub stars and headlamp has 7,556. wtf has the larger community by that measure.
Are wtf and headlamp free?
Both are open source. wtf is licensed under MPL-2.0 and headlamp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between wtf and headlamp?
wtf is written in Go and headlamp 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, wtf or headlamp?
Choose wtf if you want the larger community (17,141 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose headlamp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.