head to head · open source
Harness vs retire.js
Harness has 38,785 GitHub stars, 3,451 forks, 106 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. retire.js has 4,197 stars, 441 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Harness leads on adoption by 824% (38,785 vs 4,197 stars). Harness is written in Go under Apache-2.0; retire.js is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. Harness has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, retire.js 11%. Harness 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
| Harness | retire.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 441 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Harness if
- You weight community size — 39K 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 retire.js if
- You want the retire.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and retire.js fits your workflow better
About Harness
Harness Harness Open Source is an open source development platform packed with the power of code hosting, automated DevOps pipelines, hosted development environments (Gitspaces), and artifact registries. Overview Harness Open source is an open source development platform packed with the power of code hosting, automated DevOps pipelines, Gitspaces, and artifact registries. Running Harness locally The latest publicly released docker image can be found on harness/harness. To install Harness yourself, simply run the command below. Once the container is up, you can visit in your browser. The Harness image uses a…
read the full Harness overview →
About retire.js
Retire.js What you require you must also retire There is a vast ecosystem of JavaScript libraries available for both web and Node.js applications. While these libraries significantly accelerate development, they also require ongoing maintenance to ensure security vulnerabilities are addressed promptly. In 2013, “Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities” was added to the OWASP Top 10 list of critical security risks, highlighting the serious threat that outdated or insecure dependencies can pose to web applications. Retire.js was created to help developers identify JavaScript library versions with known…
read the full retire.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Harness or retire.js more popular?
Harness has 38,785 GitHub stars and retire.js has 4,197. Harness has the larger community by that measure.
Are Harness and retire.js free?
Both are open source. Harness is licensed under Apache-2.0 and retire.js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Harness and retire.js?
Harness is written in Go and retire.js in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Harness or retire.js?
Choose Harness if you want the larger community (38,785 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose retire.js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.