head to head · open source
gokey vs pass-import
gokey has 2,437 GitHub stars, 109 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. pass-import has 917 stars, 98 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. gokey leads on adoption by 166% (2,437 vs 917 stars). gokey is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause; pass-import is written in Python under GPL-3.0. gokey has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, pass-import 11%. gokey was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (password-manager, password-store), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| gokey | pass-import | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.4K | ★ 917 |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-07-10 | 2026-06-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 109 | ⑂ 98 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gokey if
- You weight community size — 2.4K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pass-import if
- You want the pass-import feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pass-import fits your workflow better
About gokey
gokey is a vaultless password and key generator written in Go that derives passwords and cryptographic private keys on demand from a master password or a seed file instead of storing them in a vault, aimed at developers and system administrators who want deterministic credentials available anywhere without managing, backing up, or syncing a password store.
read the full gokey overview →
About pass-import
pass import is a GPL 3.0 Python extension for pass, the file based Unix password manager, that imports existing password databases from 63 different password managers into a pass password store and can also export credentials to other managers through its companion pimport script.
read the full pass-import overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Identity & Access Management (IAM) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Identity & Access Management (IAM) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is gokey or pass-import more popular?
gokey has 2,437 GitHub stars and pass-import has 917. gokey has the larger community by that measure.
Are gokey and pass-import free?
Both are open source. gokey is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and pass-import under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gokey and pass-import?
gokey is written in Go and pass-import in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gokey or pass-import?
Choose gokey if you want the larger community (2,437 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose pass-import if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.