head to head · open source
Bitwarden vs Passbolt
Bitwarden has 20,156 GitHub stars, 1,772 forks, 230 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Passbolt has 6,127 stars, 400 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bitwarden leads on adoption by 229% (20,156 vs 6,127 stars). Bitwarden is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence; Passbolt is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Bitwarden has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Passbolt 7%. Bitwarden 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
| Bitwarden | Passbolt | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 400 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Bitwarden if
- You weight community size — 20K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Passbolt if
- You want the Passbolt feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Passbolt fits your workflow better
About Bitwarden
Bitwarden Server is the backend infrastructure for Bitwarden client applications, and it lives in the .NET ecosystem. The repository contains the APIs, database, and core services that support secure password management for individuals and businesses.
read the full Bitwarden overview →
About Passbolt
Passbolt is a security first, open source password manager for teams, published here as the Passbolt Community Edition (CE) JSON API under the AGPL 3.0 licence and built for organizations that need to centralize, organize and share passwords and secrets on infrastructure they control.
read the full Passbolt overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bitwarden or Passbolt more popular?
Bitwarden has 20,156 GitHub stars and Passbolt has 6,127. Bitwarden has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bitwarden and Passbolt free?
Both are open source. Bitwarden has no licence declared in this registry, and Passbolt is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Bitwarden and Passbolt?
Bitwarden is written in C# and Passbolt in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Bitwarden or Passbolt?
Choose Bitwarden if you want the larger community (20,156 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Passbolt if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.