head to head · open source
cobalt vs linshare
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars, 4,031 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. linshare has 581 stars, 89 forks, 119 open issues and last shipped 26 days ago. cobalt leads on adoption by 7,770% (45,722 vs 581 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; linshare is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, linshare 15%. linshare 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 | linshare | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 581 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Svelte | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-10-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 89 |
| 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 linshare if
- You want the linshare feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and linshare 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 linshare
English · Français Secure, traceable file sharing for organizations that care about privacy. Try it · Install · Documentation · Repositories · Contributing · Website What is LinShare? LinShare is an open source file sharing platform built for organizations that need to exchange documents with internal and external collaborators while keeping full control over privacy and traceability. It replaces email attachments, USB sticks and consumer cloud drives with a self hosted service you run on your own infrastructure. Key features Personal space – upload, version and organize your files, then share them by link or…
read the full linshare overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or linshare more popular?
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars and linshare has 581. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and linshare free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and linshare under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and linshare?
cobalt is written in Svelte and linshare in Shell. 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 linshare?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (45,722 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose linshare if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.