head to head · open source
Ente vs Wire
Ente has 29,841 GitHub stars, 1,893 forks, 229 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Wire has 2,557 stars, 180 forks, 173 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. Ente leads on adoption by 1,067% (29,841 vs 2,557 stars). Ente is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; Wire is written in various languages under GPL-3.0. Ente has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Wire 7%. Ente 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
| Ente | Wire | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Dart | — |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-01-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 180 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ente if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Wire if
- You want the Wire feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- You evaluated both and Wire fits your workflow better
About Ente
Fully open source end to end encrypted photos, authenticators and more. Ente Ente is a service that provides a fully open source, end to end encrypted platform for you to store your data in the cloud without needing to trust the service provider. On top of this platform, we have built three apps so far: Ente Photos (an alternative to Apple and Google Photos), Ente Locker (a safe space for your most important documents and credentials), and Ente Auth (a 2FA alternative to the deprecated Authy). This monorepo contains all our source code the client apps (iOS / Android / F Droid / Web / Linux / macOS / Windows) for…
About Wire
Wire™ Open source The privacy page and the privacy and security whitepapers explain the details of the encryption algorithms and protocols used. For licensing information, see the attached LICENSE file and the list of third party licenses at wire.com. If you compile the open source software that we make available from time to time to develop your own mobile, desktop or web application, and cause that application to connect to our servers for any purposes, we refer to that resulting application as an “Open Source App”. All Open Source Apps are subject to, and may only be used and/or commercialized in accordance…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ente or Wire more popular?
Ente has 29,841 GitHub stars and Wire has 2,557. Ente has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ente and Wire free?
Both are open source. Ente is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Wire under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ente and Wire?
Ente is written in Dart and Wire in various languages. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Ente or Wire?
Choose Ente if you want the larger community (29,841 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Wire if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.