head to head · open source
bernstein vs chainloop
bernstein has 1,347 GitHub stars, 187 forks, 368 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chainloop has 610 stars, 64 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bernstein leads on adoption by 121% (1,347 vs 610 stars). bernstein is written in Python under Apache-2.0; chainloop is written in Go under Apache-2.0. bernstein has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, chainloop 10%. bernstein was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai-agents, ai-governance, attestation, compliance), 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
| bernstein | chainloop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.3K | ★ 610 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 187 | ⑂ 64 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bernstein if
- You weight community size — 1.3K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick chainloop if
- You want the chainloop 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 chainloop fits your workflow better
About bernstein
"To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time." attributed to Leonard Bernstein the open source governance layer for AI agents website · docs · install · first run · glossary · limitations · name policy · discord · sponsor 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · हिन्दी · বাংলা · Русский · Español · Português · Deutsch · Français · Italiano · Nederlands · Polski · Svenska · Suomi · Українська · Türkçe · العربية…
read the full bernstein overview →
About chainloop
Chainloop What is it? Chainloop is an open source evidence store for your Software Supply Chain attestations, Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs), VEX, SARIF, QA reports, and more. With Chainloop, Security, Compliance, and Risk management teams can define security and compliance policies, what evidence and artifacts they want to receive, and where to store them. On the other hand, developers are shielded from all this complexity by being given simple instructions on what to provide when instrumenting their CI/CD pipelines. To learn more about the project motivation please look at our documentation. How does it…
read the full chainloop overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bernstein or chainloop more popular?
bernstein has 1,347 GitHub stars and chainloop has 610. bernstein has the larger community by that measure.
Are bernstein and chainloop free?
Both are open source. bernstein is licensed under Apache-2.0 and chainloop under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bernstein and chainloop?
bernstein is written in Python and chainloop 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, bernstein or chainloop?
Choose bernstein if you want the larger community (1,347 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose chainloop if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.