head to head · open source
cobalt vs Openfire
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars, 4,031 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Openfire has 3,074 stars, 1,399 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cobalt leads on adoption by 1,387% (45,722 vs 3,074 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; Openfire is written in Java under Apache-2.0. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Openfire 46%. Openfire 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 | Openfire | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Svelte | Java |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| 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 Openfire if
- You want the Openfire 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 Openfire 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 Openfire
Openfire ======== About [Openfire] is a real time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP (also called Jabber). Openfire is incredibly easy to set up and administer, but offers rock solid security and performance. [Openfire] is an XMPP server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. [Openfire] an [Ignite Realtime] community project. Bug Reporting Only a few users have access for filling bugs in the tracker. New users should: 1. Create a Discourse account 2. Login to a Discourse account 3. Click on…
read the full Openfire overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or Openfire more popular?
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars and Openfire has 3,074. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and Openfire free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Openfire under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and Openfire?
cobalt is written in Svelte and Openfire 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, cobalt or Openfire?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (45,722 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Openfire if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.