head to head · open source
Bruno vs SafeLine
Bruno has 47,022 GitHub stars, 2,888 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SafeLine has 22,606 stars, 1,533 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Bruno leads on adoption by 108% (47,022 vs 22,606 stars). Bruno is written in JavaScript under MIT; SafeLine is written in Go under GPL-3.0. Bruno has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, SafeLine 7%. Bruno 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
| Bruno | SafeLine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 23K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Bruno if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SafeLine if
- You want the SafeLine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and SafeLine fits your workflow better
About Bruno
Bruno is a lightweight, open source API client and IDE for exploring and testing APIs, built for developers and teams who want their request collections stored as plain text in a folder on their own filesystem rather than in a vendor's cloud.
read the full Bruno overview →
About SafeLine
SafeLine is a self hosted web application firewall and reverse proxy, written in Go and licensed under GPL 3.0, that filters, monitors, and blocks malicious HTTP/S traffic before it reaches a web application — built for developers, AppSec engineers, and blue teams who want to run edge protection on their own infrastructure.
read the full SafeLine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bruno or SafeLine more popular?
Bruno has 47,022 GitHub stars and SafeLine has 22,606. Bruno has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bruno and SafeLine free?
Both are open source. Bruno is licensed under MIT and SafeLine under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bruno and SafeLine?
Bruno is written in JavaScript and SafeLine 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, Bruno or SafeLine?
Choose Bruno if you want the larger community (47,022 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose SafeLine if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.