head to head · open source
Harness vs retire.js
Harness has 38,378 GitHub stars, 3,397 forks, 106 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. retire.js has 4,173 stars, 440 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Harness leads on adoption by 820% (38,378 vs 4,173 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 | ★ 38K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 440 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Harness if
- You weight community size — 38K 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 Open Source is an Apache 2.0, Go based developer platform that combines Git source control management, CI/CD pipelines, Gitspaces hosted development environments and artifact registries into one self hostable system for engineering teams that want end to end software delivery without stitching four separate products together.
read the full Harness overview →
About retire.js
Retire.js is an open source JavaScript security scanner for web and Node.js projects. It lives in the JavaScript software composition analysis ecosystem and is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license. The project detects JavaScript libraries and Node.js modules with known vulnerabilities, including libraries downloaded into source control rather than listed in a package manifest.
read the full retire.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Harness or retire.js more popular?
Harness has 38,378 GitHub stars and retire.js has 4,173. 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 (38,378 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.