head to head · open source
Unleash vs Cap
Unleash has 13,924 GitHub stars, 919 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cap has 8,236 stars, 637 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Unleash leads on adoption by 69% (13,924 vs 8,236 stars). Unleash is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Cap is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Unleash has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Cap 8%. Unleash 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
| Unleash | Cap | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 8.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 919 | ⑂ 637 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Unleash if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Cap if
- You want the Cap feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Cap fits your workflow better
About Unleash
Launch the live demo Try Unleash Enterprise for free What is Unleash? Unleash is a powerful open source solution for feature management. It streamlines your development workflow, accelerates software delivery, and empowers teams to control how and when they roll out new features to end users. With Unleash, you can deploy code to production in smaller, more manageable releases at your own pace. Feature flags in Unleash let you test your code with real production data, reducing the risk of negatively impacting your users' experience. It also enables your team to work on multiple features simultaneously without the…
read the full Unleash overview →
About Cap
Cap Cap is a lightweight, modern open source CAPTCHA alternative using proof of work and instrumentation challenges . It's fast, private, and extremely simple to integrate. Documentation Read the docs , try the demo or deploy on Railway What is Cap? Cap replaces visual captchas with modern, accessible and privacy preserving challenges. No images, no tracking, no dependencies, works everywhere. The default way to use Cap is with the Standalone Docker container. Learn more about how Cap works Why Cap? 250x smaller than hCaptcha 20kb, zero dependencies, loads in milliseconds Privacy first Cap doesn't send any…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Unleash or Cap more popular?
Unleash has 13,924 GitHub stars and Cap has 8,236. Unleash has the larger community by that measure.
Are Unleash and Cap free?
Both are open source. Unleash is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Cap has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Unleash and Cap?
Unleash is written in TypeScript and Cap in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Unleash or Cap?
Choose Unleash if you want the larger community (13,924 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Cap if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.