head to head · open source
keepass2android vs rowel
keepass2android has 6,376 GitHub stars, 486 forks, 1,174 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. rowel has 964 stars, 82 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped yesterday. keepass2android leads on adoption by 561% (6,376 vs 964 stars). keepass2android is written in C# under GPL-3.0; rowel is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. keepass2android has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, rowel 9%. rowel 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
| keepass2android | rowel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.4K | ★ 964 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-08 | 2026-11-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 486 | ⑂ 82 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick keepass2android if
- You weight community size — 6.4K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rowel if
- You want the rowel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rowel fits your workflow better
About keepass2android
Keepass2Android What is Keepass2Android? Keepass2Android is a password manager app. It allows to store and retrieve passwords and other sensitive information in a file called "database", secured with a strong key. The password database file can be synchronized across different devices. This works best using one of the built in cloud storage options, but can also be performed with third party apps. Keepass2Android is compatible with KeePass 2.x and KeepassXC on PCs as well as many other KeePass ports for a variety of platforms. Where to get it? Regular stable releases of Keepass2Android are available on Google…
read the full keepass2android overview →
About rowel
Free Offline first Password Manager for MacOS, Windows and Linux. ❤️ it? Then ⭐️ it on GitHub or Tweet about it. Features Store Login/Password credentials Credit card Information Secure notes to store sensitive information One click Strong Password Generation Time based One Time Passwords support (TOTP) Google Drive Sync (optional) No data is leaving your computer: Your vault is a locally stored, encrypted SQLite database (SQLCipher); each entry's secrets are sealed in an extra application level AEAD layer Secrets stay encrypted at rest and in memory, decrypted only when you reveal or copy them Ability to…
read the full rowel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is keepass2android or rowel more popular?
keepass2android has 6,376 GitHub stars and rowel has 964. keepass2android has the larger community by that measure.
Are keepass2android and rowel free?
Both are open source. keepass2android is licensed under GPL-3.0 and rowel under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between keepass2android and rowel?
keepass2android is written in C# and rowel in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, keepass2android or rowel?
Choose keepass2android if you want the larger community (6,376 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose rowel if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.