head to head · open source
glance vs databag
glance has 37,086 GitHub stars, 1,463 forks, 318 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. databag has 1,489 stars, 95 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. glance leads on adoption by 2,391% (37,086 vs 1,489 stars). glance is written in Go under AGPL-3.0; databag is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. glance has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, databag 6%. glance 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
| glance | databag | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-05 | 2026-06-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 95 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick glance if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick databag if
- You want the databag feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and databag fits your workflow better
About glance
Glance is a self hosted dashboard application written in Go and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It gathers feeds and status information from many sources into a single customizable page, so that a user can read news, follow channels and watch server health from one interface instead of opening a separate tab or application for each source. It lives in the self hosted and homelab ecosystem, alongside other Docker packaged services that users run on their own hardware. The project has been on GitHub for about two years, holds roughly 37,000 stars and 1,454 forks, and its topic list places it among aggregators,…
read the full glance overview →
About databag
Databag is a fast and lightweight self hosted messenger written in TypeScript under the Apache 2.0 license. It belongs to the community and social networking ecosystem, with topics spanning decentralized web, federated chat, mobile messenger, and self hosted server projects. Clients are available through F Droid as well as the Google and Apple stores.
read the full databag overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is glance or databag more popular?
glance has 37,086 GitHub stars and databag has 1,489. glance has the larger community by that measure.
Are glance and databag free?
Both are open source. glance is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and databag under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between glance and databag?
glance is written in Go and databag 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, glance or databag?
Choose glance if you want the larger community (37,086 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose databag if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.