head to head · open source
Appwrite vs retire.js
Appwrite has 57,400 GitHub stars, 5,725 forks, 1,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. retire.js has 4,173 stars, 440 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Appwrite leads on adoption by 1,276% (57,400 vs 4,173 stars). Appwrite is written in PHP under BSD-3-Clause; retire.js is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. Appwrite has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, retire.js 11%. Appwrite was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | retire.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.7K | ⑂ 440 |
| 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 retire.js if
- You want the retire.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and retire.js 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 retire.js
Retire.js is an open source JavaScript security scanner for web and Node.js projects. It lives in the JavaScript software composition analysis ecosystem and is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license. The project detects JavaScript libraries and Node.js modules with known vulnerabilities, including libraries downloaded into source control rather than listed in a package manifest.
read the full retire.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Appwrite or retire.js more popular?
Appwrite has 57,400 GitHub stars and retire.js has 4,173. Appwrite has the larger community by that measure.
Are Appwrite and retire.js free?
Both are open source. Appwrite is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and retire.js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Appwrite and retire.js?
Appwrite is written in PHP and retire.js in JavaScript. 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 retire.js?
Choose Appwrite if you want the larger community (57,400 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose retire.js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.