head to head · open source
Fizzy vs Backlog.md
Fizzy has 8,212 GitHub stars, 1,194 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Backlog.md has 6,787 stars, 427 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Fizzy leads on adoption by 21% (8,212 vs 6,787 stars). Fizzy is written in Ruby under a custom or non-standard licence; Backlog.md is written in TypeScript under MIT. Fizzy has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Backlog.md 6%. Fizzy 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
| Fizzy | Backlog.md | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.2K | ★ 6.8K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 427 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Fizzy if
- You weight community size — 8.2K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Backlog.md if
- You want the Backlog.md feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Backlog.md fits your workflow better
About Fizzy
Fizzy is an open source kanban tool for tracking issues and ideas, published by 37signals as a Ruby on Rails application, and it is aimed at teams that want a fast, simple board together with the source code and the option to run that board on their own server.
read the full Fizzy overview →
About Backlog.md
Backlog.md is a Markdown native task manager and Kanban visualizer that turns any folder into a self contained project board. It lives in the Git ecosystem, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license, and it is distributed as a zero config CLI alongside a terminal board and a local web interface. Every task is stored as a plain .md file inside the repository, so the project ledger travels with the code and remains readable to humans, teams, and AI agents alike.
read the full Backlog.md overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Fizzy or Backlog.md more popular?
Fizzy has 8,212 GitHub stars and Backlog.md has 6,787. Fizzy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Fizzy and Backlog.md free?
Both are open source. Fizzy has no licence declared in this registry, and Backlog.md is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Fizzy and Backlog.md?
Fizzy is written in Ruby and Backlog.md in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Fizzy or Backlog.md?
Choose Fizzy if you want the larger community (8,212 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Backlog.md if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.