head to head · open source
lesspass vs rowel
lesspass has 6,080 GitHub stars, 361 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. rowel has 964 stars, 82 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lesspass leads on adoption by 531% (6,080 vs 964 stars). lesspass is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; rowel is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. lesspass has attracted 6% 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 3 topic tags (password, password-manager, privacy), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| lesspass | rowel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.1K | ★ 964 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-21 | 2026-11-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 361 | ⑂ 82 |
| 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 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 lesspass
LessPass LessPass is a stateless password manager. Stop wasting your time synchronizing your encrypted vault. Remember one master password to access your passwords, anywhere, anytime. No sync needed. Try the demo at How to use LessPass Web extensions Install the web extension on Chrome or Firefox. When you need to generate a password, click on the password field on the web site you want to generate a password for. Hit Ctrl + Shift + L or Command + Shift + L on mac to open the web extension. Fill the login and master password and hit Enter . Your password is now copied in the clipboard. Hit esc key and paste the…
read the full lesspass 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 →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Identity & Access Management (IAM) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Identity & Access Management (IAM) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is lesspass or rowel more popular?
lesspass has 6,080 GitHub stars and rowel has 964. lesspass has the larger community by that measure.
Are lesspass and rowel free?
Both are open source. lesspass is licensed under GPL-3.0 and rowel under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lesspass and rowel?
lesspass is written in TypeScript 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, lesspass or rowel?
Choose lesspass if you want the larger community (6,080 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.