head to head · open source
Zitadel vs lesspass
Zitadel has 15,060 GitHub stars, 1,317 forks, 1,171 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lesspass has 6,062 stars, 365 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Zitadel leads on adoption by 148% (15,060 vs 6,062 stars). Zitadel is written in Go under AGPL-3.0; lesspass is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. Zitadel has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, lesspass 6%. Zitadel 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
| Zitadel | lesspass | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 365 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zitadel if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lesspass if
- You want the lesspass feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and lesspass fits your workflow better
About Zitadel
Zitadel is an open source identity and access management platform written in Go and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It lives in the open source IAM ecosystem and provides identity infrastructure for developers who need to operate an authentication and authorization layer themselves.
read the full Zitadel overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zitadel or lesspass more popular?
Zitadel has 15,060 GitHub stars and lesspass has 6,062. Zitadel has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zitadel and lesspass free?
Both are open source. Zitadel is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and lesspass under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zitadel and lesspass?
Zitadel is written in Go and lesspass in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zitadel or lesspass?
Choose Zitadel if you want the larger community (15,060 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose lesspass if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.