head to head · open source
Appwrite vs bex
Appwrite has 57,404 GitHub stars, 5,727 forks, 1,008 open issues and last shipped today. bex has 563 stars, 63 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Appwrite leads on adoption by 10,096% (57,404 vs 563 stars). Appwrite is written in PHP under BSD-3-Clause; bex is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Appwrite has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, bex 11%. Appwrite was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Appwrite | bex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 563 |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.7K | ⑂ 63 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Appwrite if
- You weight community size — 57K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bex if
- You want the bex feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and bex fits your workflow better
About Appwrite
Appwrite is an open source backend platform that consolidates infrastructure services—authentication, databases, storage, functions, messaging, hosting, and real time capabilities—into a single, unified system. It runs as a self hosted service or via a managed cloud offering (Appwrite Cloud), targeting developers who want to avoid assembling and maintaining disparate backend tools.
read the full Appwrite overview →
About bex
bex The open source, AI native alternative to Render. Deploy from Git to HTTPS on infrastructure you own—and give developers and coding agents the same first class control plane. Quickstart · Features · Screenshots · Architecture · Render parity · Contributing [!WARNING] bex is in active development and is not ready for production workloads. APIs and configuration can change. The core platform works and is continuously tested; use it today to explore, contribute, and help shape the project. Why bex Render, Heroku, and Railway proved the experience developers want: connect a repo, get a URL, and avoid operating Ku…
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Build & Deployment projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Build & Deployment field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Appwrite or bex more popular?
Appwrite has 57,404 GitHub stars and bex has 563. Appwrite has the larger community by that measure.
Are Appwrite and bex free?
Both are open source. Appwrite is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and bex under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Appwrite and bex?
Appwrite is written in PHP and bex in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Appwrite or bex?
Choose Appwrite if you want the larger community (57,404 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose bex if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.