head to head · open source
Appwrite vs please
Appwrite has 57,400 GitHub stars, 5,725 forks, 1,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. please has 2,612 stars, 221 forks, 120 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Appwrite leads on adoption by 2,098% (57,400 vs 2,612 stars). Appwrite is written in PHP under BSD-3-Clause; please is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Appwrite has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, please 8%. 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 | please | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.7K | ⑂ 221 |
| 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 please if
- You want the please 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 please 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 please
Please is an open source, cross language build system for reproducible multi language builds. It belongs to the developer tools and build and deployment ecosystem, and its topics place it alongside Bazel, Buck, and Pants as a monorepo build tool. The project is written in Go, licensed under Apache 2.0, and actively supported on Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD.
read the full please overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Appwrite or please more popular?
Appwrite has 57,400 GitHub stars and please has 2,612. Appwrite has the larger community by that measure.
Are Appwrite and please free?
Both are open source. Appwrite is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and please under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Appwrite and please?
Appwrite is written in PHP and please 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 please?
Choose Appwrite if you want the larger community (57,400 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose please if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.