head to head · open source
Encore vs gentle-shell
Encore has 12,369 GitHub stars, 622 forks, 127 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. gentle-shell has 934 stars, 138 forks, 369 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Encore leads on adoption by 1,224% (12,369 vs 934 stars). Encore is written in Go under MPL-2.0; gentle-shell is written in TypeScript under MIT. Encore has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, gentle-shell 15%. gentle-shell 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
| Encore | gentle-shell | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 934 |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 622 | ⑂ 138 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Encore if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gentle-shell if
- You want the gentle-shell feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and gentle-shell fits your workflow better
About Encore
Encore is an open source infrastructure platform for backend development, written in Go under MPL 2.0. It lives in the Go and TypeScript cloud native ecosystem and lets developers declare databases, Pub/Sub, object storage, caches, cron jobs, and secrets in application code. The project combines an infrastructure SDK with an optional managed platform that deploys to a user's AWS or GCP account.
read the full Encore overview →
About gentle-shell
gentle shell is a senior architect development harness for the Pi platform that turns a terminal coding agent into a controlled workspace with spec driven development, focused subagents, strict TDD evidence, review guardrails, and skill discovery.
read the full gentle-shell overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Encore or gentle-shell more popular?
Encore has 12,369 GitHub stars and gentle-shell has 934. Encore has the larger community by that measure.
Are Encore and gentle-shell free?
Both are open source. Encore is licensed under MPL-2.0 and gentle-shell under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Encore and gentle-shell?
Encore is written in Go and gentle-shell 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, Encore or gentle-shell?
Choose Encore if you want the larger community (12,369 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose gentle-shell if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.