head to head · open source
Flagsmith vs Friendly Captcha
Flagsmith has 6,559 GitHub stars, 568 forks, 711 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Friendly Captcha has 33 stars, 15 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Flagsmith leads on adoption by 19,776% (6,559 vs 33 stars). Flagsmith is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause; Friendly Captcha is written in TypeScript under MPL-2.0. Flagsmith has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Friendly Captcha 45%. Flagsmith 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
| Flagsmith | Friendly Captcha | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.6K | ★ 33 |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 568 | ⑂ 15 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Flagsmith if
- You weight community size — 6.6K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Friendly Captcha if
- You want the Friendly Captcha feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Friendly Captcha fits your workflow better
About Flagsmith
Flagsmith is an open source feature flag and remote configuration platform, written in Python and released under the BSD 3 Clause licence, for engineering teams that need to toggle, segment and roll out features across web, mobile and server side applications without deploying new code.
read the full Flagsmith overview →
About Friendly Captcha
Friendly Captcha SDK is the TypeScript library that website developers install to add Friendly Captcha v2 proof of work bot protection to their forms and pages, built for teams that want to block spam and abuse while keeping visitor data private and staying GDPR compliant.
read the full Friendly Captcha overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Flagsmith or Friendly Captcha more popular?
Flagsmith has 6,559 GitHub stars and Friendly Captcha has 33. Flagsmith has the larger community by that measure.
Are Flagsmith and Friendly Captcha free?
Both are open source. Flagsmith is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Friendly Captcha under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Flagsmith and Friendly Captcha?
Flagsmith is written in Python and Friendly Captcha in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Flagsmith or Friendly Captcha?
Choose Flagsmith if you want the larger community (6,559 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose Friendly Captcha if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.