head to head · open source
changedetection.io vs fess
changedetection.io has 34,312 GitHub stars, 2,064 forks, 385 open issues and last shipped today. fess has 1,136 stars, 175 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. changedetection.io leads on adoption by 2,920% (34,312 vs 1,136 stars). changedetection.io is written in Python under Apache-2.0; fess is written in Java under Apache-2.0. changedetection.io has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, fess 15%. changedetection.io 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
| changedetection.io | fess | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 175 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick changedetection.io if
- You weight community size — 34K 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 fess if
- You want the fess feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and fess fits your workflow better
About changedetection.io
changedetection.io is an open source website change detection and web page monitoring tool written in Python and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It watches URLs, detects when their content changes, and sends alerts through channels such as Discord, Email, Slack, Telegram, and Webhook. The project lives in the Data & Analytics / Data Extraction & Web Scraping ecosystem, carries more than 34,000 stars and 2,000 forks on GitHub, and has been developed for roughly six years. It is designed to be self hosted, and the same codebase also backs a hosted subscription service offered by the maintainers.…
read the full changedetection.io overview →
About fess
Fess: Enterprise Search Server Overview Fess is an enterprise search server that you can install and run on any platform with a Java runtime. It is built on OpenSearch, but prior OpenSearch knowledge is not required: Fess is configured through a browser based administration UI. A built in crawler collects documents from web sites, file systems, and data stores such as databases and CSV files. Many file formats are supported, including Microsoft Office, PDF, and ZIP archives. Fess Site Search is a free alternative to Google Site Search that you can embed in your own website. For details, see the FSS JS Generator d…
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Frequently asked questions
Is changedetection.io or fess more popular?
changedetection.io has 34,312 GitHub stars and fess has 1,136. changedetection.io has the larger community by that measure.
Are changedetection.io and fess free?
Both are open source. changedetection.io is licensed under Apache-2.0 and fess under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between changedetection.io and fess?
changedetection.io is written in Python and fess in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, changedetection.io or fess?
Choose changedetection.io if you want the larger community (34,312 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose fess if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.