head to head · open source
Bluesky vs core
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars, 2,837 forks, 2,400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. core has 8,833 stars, 2,059 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bluesky leads on adoption by 107% (18,295 vs 8,833 stars). Bluesky is written in TypeScript under MIT; core is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Bluesky has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, core 23%. Bluesky 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
| Bluesky | core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Bluesky if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick core if
- You want the core 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 core fits your workflow better
About Bluesky
Bluesky is the open source social application codebase for the Bluesky Social app. It lives in the AT Protocol ecosystem, also called atproto, and it is written in TypeScript as a React Native application. The project provides client code for Web, iOS, and Android, and it builds on open source atproto packages such as @atproto/api, which live in a separate repository.
read the full Bluesky overview →
About core
ownCloud Core is the server side component of ownCloud Classic, an open source file platform written in PHP and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It provides file storage, synchronization, and sharing, and it ships WebDAV, CalDAV, and CardDAV servers alongside a plugin architecture that other ownCloud apps extend. The repository is the main one for ownCloud Classic and serves as the foundation for apps such as Activity, Calendar, and Contacts. Development is stewarded by the Kiteworks Open Source Program Office under the ownCloud brand.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bluesky or core more popular?
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars and core has 8,833. Bluesky has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bluesky and core free?
Both are open source. Bluesky is licensed under MIT and core under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bluesky and core?
Bluesky is written in TypeScript and core 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, Bluesky or core?
Choose Bluesky if you want the larger community (18,295 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose core if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.