head to head · open source
Freescout vs Keila
Freescout has 4,541 GitHub stars, 717 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Keila has 2,211 stars, 167 forks, 76 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Freescout leads on adoption by 105% (4,541 vs 2,211 stars). Freescout is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; Keila is written in Elixir under AGPL-3.0. Freescout has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Keila 8%. Keila 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
| Freescout | Keila | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.5K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 717 | ⑂ 167 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Freescout if
- You weight community size — 4.5K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Keila if
- You want the Keila feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Elixir
- You evaluated both and Keila fits your workflow better
About Freescout
FreeScout is an open source helpdesk and shared inbox for customer support teams. It lives in the PHP and Laravel ecosystem and is licensed under AGPL 3.0. The project presents itself as a free self hosted alternative to Zendesk and Help Scout, and its topics place it among helpdesk ticketing systems and OSTicket alternatives.
read the full Freescout overview →
About Keila
Keila is an open source newsletter and email marketing tool written in Elixir and licensed under AGPL 3.0. It is presented as an open alternative to Mailchimp and Sendinblue, and it lives in the open source email marketing and newsletter ecosystem for people who want to manage campaigns and subscriber sign ups without relying only on a paid hosted service.
read the full Keila overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Freescout or Keila more popular?
Freescout has 4,541 GitHub stars and Keila has 2,211. Freescout has the larger community by that measure.
Are Freescout and Keila free?
Both are open source. Freescout is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Keila under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Freescout and Keila?
Freescout is written in PHP and Keila in Elixir. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Freescout or Keila?
Choose Freescout if you want the larger community (4,541 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Keila if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.