# excalidraw vs Thesys

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | excalidraw | Thesys |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 91/100 ✓ | 41/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 9 in Whiteboarding | #5 of 5 in Research |
| GitHub stars | 134 803 ✓ | 177 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 970 ✓ | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 5 ✓ |
| Latest release | v0.18.1 · 21 Apr 2026 | v0.4.0 · 23 Sept 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

excalidraw scores 91/100 against 41/100 for Thesys, so it is the safer default.

Thesys ships more often: 5 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for excalidraw.

excalidraw is growing faster right now (+1 970 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [excalidraw](https://selfhost.directory/project/excalidraw) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/excalidraw.md)
- [Thesys](https://selfhost.directory/project/thesys-core) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/thesys-core.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/excalidraw-vs-thesys-core