head to head · open source
Appwrite vs piku
Appwrite has 57,854 GitHub stars, 5,830 forks, 1,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. piku has 6,603 stars, 157 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Appwrite leads on adoption by 776% (57,854 vs 6,603 stars). Appwrite is written in TypeScript under BSD-3-Clause; piku is written in Python under MIT. Appwrite has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, piku 2%. 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.
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Side by side
| Appwrite | piku | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 58K | ★ 6.6K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 157 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Appwrite if
- You weight community size — 58K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick piku if
- You want the piku feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and piku fits your workflow better
About Appwrite
Appwrite Appwrite is an open source, all in one development platform. Use built in backend infrastructure and web hosting, all from a single place. English 简体中文 Appwrite is an open source development platform for building web, mobile, and AI applications. It brings together backend infrastructure and web hosting in one place, so teams can build, ship, and scale without stitching together a fragmented stack. Appwrite is available as a managed cloud platform and can also be self hosted on infrastructure you control. With Appwrite, you can add authentication, databases, storage, functions, messaging, realtime…
read the full Appwrite overview →
About piku
piku , inspired by dokku , allows you do git push deployments to your own servers, no matter how small they are. Demo Documentation: Install Using Procfile ENV Examples Roadmap Contributing LinuxConf Talk Fast Web App Tutorial Discussion Forum Note to security “researchers” please stop submitting fake, AI generated SSH ”vulnerabilities” and begging for CVEs to boost your credibility. We know piku allows you to run arbitrary commands (it is actually a CLI feature), and you are just wasting our time. Use AI to improve this instead. Install TL;DR: There are also other installation methods available, including cloud…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Appwrite or piku more popular?
Appwrite has 57,854 GitHub stars and piku has 6,603. Appwrite has the larger community by that measure.
Are Appwrite and piku free?
Both are open source. Appwrite is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and piku under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Appwrite and piku?
Appwrite is written in TypeScript and piku 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 piku?
Choose Appwrite if you want the larger community (57,854 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose piku if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.