head to head · open source
Ntfy vs Freescout
Ntfy has 35,241 GitHub stars, 1,692 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Freescout has 4,628 stars, 741 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ntfy leads on adoption by 661% (35,241 vs 4,628 stars). Ntfy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Freescout is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Ntfy has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Freescout 16%. Ntfy 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
| Ntfy | Freescout | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 4.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 741 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ntfy if
- You weight community size — 35K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Freescout if
- You want the Freescout feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Freescout fits your workflow better
About Ntfy
Special thanks to: Warp, built for coding with multiple AI agents. Available for MacOS, Linux, & Windows ntfy.sh Send push notifications to your phone or desktop via PUT/POST ntfy (pronounced " notify ") is a simple HTTP based pub sub notification service. With ntfy, you can send notifications to your phone or desktop via scripts from any computer, without having to sign up or pay any fees . If you'd like to run your own instance of the service, you can easily do so since ntfy is open source. You can access the free version of ntfy at ntfy.sh . There is also an open source Android app available on Google Play or…
About Freescout
Free Self Hosted Zendesk & Help Scout Alternative FreeScout is the super lightweight and powerful free open source help desk and shared inbox built with PHP (Laravel framework). Now you can enjoy free Zendesk & Help Scout without giving up privacy or locking yourself into a service you don't control. FreeScout has been developed from scratch and does not use any copyrighted Help Scout or Zendesk materials. If you want to support the project feel free to star this repository . It helps to increase the visibility of the project and let people know that it is valuable. Thanks for your support! Table of Contents…
read the full Freescout overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ntfy or Freescout more popular?
Ntfy has 35,241 GitHub stars and Freescout has 4,628. Ntfy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ntfy and Freescout free?
Both are open source. Ntfy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Freescout under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ntfy and Freescout?
Ntfy is written in Go and Freescout in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Ntfy or Freescout?
Choose Ntfy if you want the larger community (35,241 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Freescout if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.