The tools that rank GitHub repos differ on one question: what does each one count, and does it say how? On Oct 23, 2026 GitHub Trending’s page gave no method and OSS Insight’s trending page read “Star-based rankings are paused”. If you want GitHub’s own list, use GitHub Trending. If you want one repo’s growth curve, use Star History. If you want a star-velocity ranking with a published method, use GitTrend or RepoTrending.
How do these tools differ?
They differ in what they count: GitHub’s own signals, raw GitHub events, star snapshots, or lists captured day by day. The table shows what each page said on Oct 23, 2026.
- 3say how they rankStar History, GitTrend, RepoTrending
- 1says it in partOSS Insight
- 2do not say on the pageGitHub Trending, Trendshift
| Tool | Best for | What it counts | Says how? |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Trending | The official list | The page does not say; a 2013 blog post names stars, forks, commits, follows, pageviews | Not on the page |
| OSS Insight | Commit, PR and issue analytics | GitHub events (gharchive.org and the public events API) | Partly: it names its data source and its gaps |
| Star History | The growth curve of one repo | Star history from GitHub’s API, with your token | Yes, but it is not a trending list |
| Trendshift | Daily to yearly lists | The page does not say | Not on the page |
| GitTrend | Star velocity lists | Difference between daily snapshots of star and fork totals | Yes, on /methodology |
| RepoTrending | Stars gained: Today (1 day), This week (7), This month (30) | Latest snapshot minus the one N days earlier, net of unstars | Yes, on how we rank |
- GitHub's own signalsGitHub Trending. The page gives no method; a 2013 blog post names stars, forks, commits, follows and pageviews.
- Raw GitHub eventsOSS Insight. Events from gharchive.org and the public events API.
- One repo's curveStar History. Star history from GitHub's API for the repo you enter. Not a trending list.
- Lists captured day by dayTrendshift. Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tabs; the page does not say how repos are chosen.
- Star snapshotsGitTrend and RepoTrending. The difference between daily snapshots of star totals.
What do you get from GitHub Trending?
You get the official list: github.com/trending offers Today, This week and This month, with filters for spoken language and programming language. The page does not say how repos are selected.
The only official method text we found is a GitHub blog post of Aug 13, 2013, updated Dec 6, 2019. It says: “Eight times a day we calculate trending data into three time buckets: daily, weekly, and monthly.” It also says GitHub looks at “stars, forks, commits, follows, and pageviews, weighting them appropriately.” The page gives no formula, so you can’t redo a number yourself. How GitHub trending works covers that post in full.
When does OSS Insight fit?
Use OSS Insight (ossinsight.io) when you want activity analytics, not a star list. It describes itself as “a free analytics platform that tracks over 10 billion GitHub events in real time”, covering repos, developers and organizations, with stars, commits, pull requests, issues and contributors.
One caveat, in its own words. On Oct 23, 2026 its trending page (ossinsight.io/trending) read “Star-based rankings are paused”. The reason given was that a change in GitHub’s events feed left star, PR and issue events since mid-2025 under-captured. Its FAQ adds that GitHub’s events API publishes WatchEvent only and has no unwatch event, so its counts can differ from GitHub’s. The API needs no authentication in beta and allows 600 requests per hour per IP. Any price beyond the free site: the page does not say.
Is Star History a trending list?
No. Star History (www.star-history.com) answers “how did this one repo grow”: enter a repo and you get its star curve, with a compare view, a Star Map and a Chrome extension. It is maintained by Bytebase, says it is free and open-source, and reads GitHub’s star history API with a GitHub token you provide, stored in your browser’s local storage. Pick it when you already have a repo in mind. It won’t tell you which repos to look at.
What does Trendshift add?
Trendshift (trendshift.io) calls itself “An alternative to GitHub Trending” and adds tabs for Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly. Its repo pages define “Trendshift Trending” as where the repo ranked on each day it made the top 25.
Two things the page does not say: how repos are chosen for its lists, and whether the “Featured” sponsors at the top affect rank. Trendshift Signal (trendshift.io/signal) is an API, with a Starter plan at $9 a month, billed monthly. The site price: the page does not say.
How close is GitTrend to RepoTrending?
Close in method. GitTrend (gittrend.io) lists Today, This Week and This Month by “star velocity”, and its methodology page (gittrend.io/methodology) says growth is the difference between daily snapshots of verified star and fork totals. That is a similar approach to ours for stars, though it also counts forks and checks its totals against the GitHub GraphQL API.
It also says snapshot history begins Mar 28, 2026 and that periods longer than the history are omitted, not estimated. Data comes from hourly GH Archive, verified against the GitHub GraphQL API, and it says WatchEvents undercount real starring. It reports tracking 50M+ repos, with 50,000+ actively ranked daily, and sells paid video reels (“Promote your project”), with sponsored entries labeled “Sponsored”. The methodology page we read gave no score formula.
Where is RepoTrending weaker?
On day one we have one snapshot, so no ranking exists yet: Today starts Oct 24, This week Oct 30 and This month Nov 22. GitTrend’s history starts Mar 28, 2026, and it reports far wider coverage than our 12,468 tracked repos.
We also miss quiet repos under our 5,000-star floor, we have a page for only 2,500 of the 12,468, and we don’t check for bought or farmed stars yet. Our this-week ranking marks anything partial as partial until a full window exists.
- 1snapshot so farso no ranking exists yet
- 2,500repos with a pageof the 12,468 we track
- 5,000stars: our discovery floorquiet repos below it can be missed
- Oct 24first ranking, TodayThis week Oct 30, This month Nov 22
What does RepoTrending add?
A formula written out in one line. A gain is the latest snapshot’s star count minus the count N days earlier, with N set to 1, 7 or 30, net of unstars. Ties go to the repo with more total stars, then by name. Sponsors never move a rank, and how we rank says what we can’t see. Total stars are a different measure; stars gained vs total stars explains the difference.
Who should choose what?
Choose by the question you have, not by the tool. Star History and OSS Insight answer different questions from a trending list, and GitTrend and RepoTrending, which use a similar snapshot method, are the closest pair on Oct 23, 2026.
- Choose GitHub Trending if you want the official list and don’t need the method.
- Choose Star History if you maintain a small repo and want to see its own growth curve.
- Choose OSS Insight if you want commit, PR and issue activity, not star rankings.
- Choose Trendshift if you want daily to yearly lists, or an API of captured lists.
- Choose GitTrend or RepoTrending if you want star velocity with a snapshot method you can read. Pick RepoTrending if you want the formula written out in one subtraction, and the all-time list if you want totals instead.
Frequently asked questions
Which GitHub trending alternative should I use?
It depends on the question. Use GitHub Trending for the official list, Star History for one repo’s growth curve, OSS Insight for commit and pull request analytics, Trendshift for daily to yearly lists or an API, and GitTrend or RepoTrending for star velocity with a published method.
Do these tools count the same thing?
No. The only official method text we found, a GitHub blog post of Aug 13, 2013, names stars, forks, commits, follows and pageviews. GitTrend and RepoTrending compare daily snapshots, OSS Insight works from GitHub events, and the Trendshift pages we read do not say how repos are chosen for its lists.
What do the paid parts of these tools cost?
Only some pages say. OSS Insight calls itself free and Star History says it is free and open-source. Trendshift Signal, an API, has a Starter plan at $9 a month, billed monthly, and the Trendshift page we read does not give a site price. GitTrend has paid placements. On RepoTrending, sponsors sit in a labeled card and never move a rank.
Can any of these tools tell bought stars from real ones?
The pages we read did not say, so we can’t tell you. RepoTrending does not check for bought or farmed stars yet, so treat a big spike on a young repo with care.
Where to look next
The pages below carry on from this comparison: the method behind GitHub’s list, our own first ranking, our own formula and how to pick a window.
- How GitHub trending works: the 2013 post and what is still unknown.
- This week’s ranking: the 7-day list, from Oct 30.
- How we rank: the formula, the windows and what we leave out.
- Daily, weekly or monthly: which window to watch: the three windows and what each can miss.
Data used
Vendor pages were read on Oct 23, 2026, and each one was opened again on that same day, the day the owner approved this guide, to check every statement above. One wording changed: GitTrend’s paid placements are video reels, and sponsored entries are labeled. The rest still held. Their addresses are written as text, not links, because this site links out only to GitHub. Our own figures: RepoTrending, GitHub REST API (public repository search, read-only), snapshot of Oct 23, 2026.
| Number | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Trending: Today, This week, This month; spoken and programming language filters; no method text | https://github.com/trending | Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| “Eight times a day…” quote; stars, forks, commits, follows, pageviews; post of Aug 13, 2013, updated Dec 6, 2019 | https://github.blog/news-insights/company-news/explore-what-is-trending-on-github | Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| OSS Insight: “free analytics platform”, 10 billion events | ossinsight.io |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| OSS Insight: WatchEvent only, no unwatch event | ossinsight.io/docs/faq |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| OSS Insight: API 600 requests per hour per IP; no authentication in beta | ossinsight.io/docs/api |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| OSS Insight: “Star-based rankings are paused” and its reason | ossinsight.io/trending |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| Star History: star curve, compare, Star Map, Chrome extension; Bytebase | www.star-history.com |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| Star History: free and open-source; GitHub token stored only in the browser’s local storage | www.star-history.com/blog/how-to-use-github-star-history |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| Trendshift: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly; “Featured” sponsors; no method text | trendshift.io |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| Trendshift: “Trendshift Trending” is where the repo ranked each day it made the top 25 | a repo page on trendshift.io |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| Trendshift Signal: Starter $9 a month, billed monthly | trendshift.io/signal |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| GitTrend: star velocity windows; 50M+ repos tracked; 50,000+ actively ranked daily; paid video reels and entries labeled “Sponsored” | gittrend.io |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| GitTrend: daily snapshot differences; history from Mar 28, 2026; GH Archive; GraphQL check | gittrend.io/methodology |
Read again Oct 23, 2026 |
| 12,468 repos tracked; 2,500 with a page | RepoTrending, meta.json (trackedRepos), collector/compute.mjs (PUBLISH_LIMIT) |
Oct 23, 2026 |
| 5,000-star floor | RepoTrending, collector/discover.mjs (BIG_FLOOR) |
Oct 23, 2026 |
| Windows of 1, 7 and 30 days; ready Oct 24, Oct 30, Nov 22; net of unstars | RepoTrending, /how-we-rank/ and meta.json (windows) |
Oct 23, 2026 |
| 5 tools, other than ours, compared; of the 6 in the table, 3 say how they rank, 1 says it in part and 2 do not say on the page | Our reading of the table above, from each tool’s own page | Oct 23, 2026 |
More guides
- How to check a GitHub repo before you depend on it
- Stars per year: comparing old and new GitHub repos
- Daily, weekly or monthly: which window to watch?
- Find Claude Code repos worth trying (Oct 2026)
- How does GitHub decide what is trending?
- Open source licenses on popular GitHub repos
- Stars gained vs total stars: which says more?
- Trending badge for your README, and what it says
- What 12,468 GitHub repos look like