head to head · open source
gokey vs passwall-server
gokey has 2,438 GitHub stars, 109 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. passwall-server has 767 stars, 101 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. gokey leads on adoption by 218% (2,438 vs 767 stars). gokey is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause; passwall-server is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. gokey has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, passwall-server 13%. gokey was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (password-manager), 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.
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Side by side
| gokey | passwall-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.4K | ★ 767 |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-10 | 2026-06-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 109 | ⑂ 101 |
| 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 passwall-server if
- You want the passwall-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and passwall-server 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 passwall-server
Passwall Server is the Go based backend that powers the open source Passwall password manager platform, giving self hosters an API server to store credentials and access them from anywhere.
read the full passwall-server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gokey or passwall-server more popular?
gokey has 2,438 GitHub stars and passwall-server has 767. gokey has the larger community by that measure.
Are gokey and passwall-server free?
Both are open source. gokey is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and passwall-server under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gokey and passwall-server?
gokey is written in Go and passwall-server in Go. 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 passwall-server?
Choose gokey if you want the larger community (2,438 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose passwall-server if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.