head to head · open source
lesspass vs gokey
lesspass has 6,062 GitHub stars, 365 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. gokey has 2,435 stars, 109 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. lesspass leads on adoption by 149% (6,062 vs 2,435 stars). lesspass is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; gokey is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause. lesspass has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, gokey 4%. lesspass 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
| lesspass | gokey | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.1K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-07-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 365 | ⑂ 109 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lesspass if
- You weight community size — 6.1K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gokey if
- You want the gokey feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and gokey fits your workflow better
About lesspass
LessPass is a stateless, open source password manager written in TypeScript and licensed under GPL 3.0 that generates passwords from a master password instead of storing them in a synchronized vault, built for individuals and self hosters who want the same passwords on every device without syncing an encrypted database.
read the full lesspass overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lesspass or gokey more popular?
lesspass has 6,062 GitHub stars and gokey has 2,435. lesspass has the larger community by that measure.
Are lesspass and gokey free?
Both are open source. lesspass is licensed under GPL-3.0 and gokey under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lesspass and gokey?
lesspass is written in TypeScript and gokey 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, lesspass or gokey?
Choose lesspass if you want the larger community (6,062 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose gokey if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.