head to head · open source
Karakeep vs Showly
Karakeep has 29,110 GitHub stars, 1,516 forks, 726 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Showly has 1,460 stars, 99 forks, 151 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Karakeep leads on adoption by 1,894% (29,110 vs 1,460 stars). Karakeep is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Showly is written in Kotlin under GPL-3.0. Karakeep has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Showly 7%. Karakeep 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
| Karakeep | Showly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-06-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 99 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Karakeep if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Showly if
- You want the Showly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and Showly fits your workflow better
About Karakeep
Karakeep is a self hostable bookmark and content management application designed for users who collect links, notes, images, and PDFs across devices. It originated as Hoarder and evolved into a full featured tool for personal knowledge management, with strong emphasis on AI assisted organization and long term content preservation. Built with Next.js, it runs in the web browser and mobile apps, supporting both local and cloud hosted AI models.
read the full Karakeep overview →
About Showly
Showly is an open source mobile application for tracking television shows and movies. The GitHub repository calls it a modern manager for movies and TV shows, and the README says the Android version is free of Google services. It lives in the Android ecosystem, with an iOS release announced for January 2025, and it uses Trakt.tv for catalog and synchronization.
read the full Showly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Karakeep or Showly more popular?
Karakeep has 29,110 GitHub stars and Showly has 1,460. Karakeep has the larger community by that measure.
Are Karakeep and Showly free?
Both are open source. Karakeep is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Showly under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Karakeep and Showly?
Karakeep is written in TypeScript and Showly in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Karakeep or Showly?
Choose Karakeep if you want the larger community (29,110 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Showly if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.