head to head · open source
Appwrite vs cloud-in-a-bottle
Appwrite has 57,400 GitHub stars, 5,725 forks, 1,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cloud-in-a-bottle has 1,166 stars, 75 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Appwrite leads on adoption by 4,823% (57,400 vs 1,166 stars). Appwrite is written in PHP under BSD-3-Clause; cloud-in-a-bottle is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Appwrite has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, cloud-in-a-bottle 6%. cloud-in-a-bottle 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.
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Side by side
| Appwrite | cloud-in-a-bottle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.7K | ⑂ 75 |
| 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 cloud-in-a-bottle if
- You want the cloud-in-a-bottle feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and cloud-in-a-bottle 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 cloud-in-a-bottle
Cloud in a Bottle is an AGPL 3.0, Python based platform that deploys, runs, and shares web apps on a server you control, so your apps, data, and infrastructure stay yours.
read the full cloud-in-a-bottle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Appwrite or cloud-in-a-bottle more popular?
Appwrite has 57,400 GitHub stars and cloud-in-a-bottle has 1,166. Appwrite has the larger community by that measure.
Are Appwrite and cloud-in-a-bottle free?
Both are open source. Appwrite is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and cloud-in-a-bottle under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Appwrite and cloud-in-a-bottle?
Appwrite is written in PHP and cloud-in-a-bottle in Python. 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 cloud-in-a-bottle?
Choose Appwrite if you want the larger community (57,400 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose cloud-in-a-bottle if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.