head to head · open source
cobalt vs binsync
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars, 4,031 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. binsync has 759 stars, 63 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. cobalt leads on adoption by 5,924% (45,722 vs 759 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; binsync is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, binsync 8%. binsync was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| cobalt | binsync | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 759 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Svelte | Python |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-10-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 63 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cobalt if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Svelte
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick binsync if
- You want the binsync feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and binsync fits your workflow better
About cobalt
best way to save what you love cobalt.tools 💬 community discord server 🐦 twitter 🦋 bluesky cobalt is a media downloader that doesn't piss you off. it's friendly, efficient, and doesn't have ads, trackers, paywalls or other nonsense. paste the link, get the file, move on. that simple, just how it should be. cobalt monorepo this monorepo includes source code for api, frontend, and related packages: api tree & readme web tree & readme packages tree it also includes documentation in the docs tree: how to run a cobalt instance how to protect a cobalt instance cobalt api instance environment variables cobalt api…
read the full cobalt overview →
About binsync
BinSync BinSync is a decompiler collaboration tool built on the Git versioning system to enable fined grained reverse engineering collaboration regardless of decompiler. BinSync is built by mahaloz, the angr team, and the SEFCOM research lab. It's also due in large part to its use by the Shellphish hacking team. All good decompilers share common objects called Reverse Engineering Artifacts (REAs). These REAs are the center of BinSync's syncing ability. Here are the supported REAs: Function headers (symbol, args, type) Stack Variables (symbol, type) Structs Enums Comments Note: all types support user created…
read the full binsync overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or binsync more popular?
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars and binsync has 759. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and binsync free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and binsync under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and binsync?
cobalt is written in Svelte and binsync in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, cobalt or binsync?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (45,722 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose binsync if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.