head to head · open source
mall vs InsForge
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars, 29,827 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. InsForge has 13,002 stars, 1,194 forks, 184 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mall leads on adoption by 552% (84,792 vs 13,002 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; InsForge is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, InsForge 9%. InsForge 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
| mall | InsForge | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mall if
- You weight community size — 85K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick InsForge if
- You want the InsForge feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and InsForge fits your workflow better
About mall
mall is a complete e commerce system built on Spring Boot and MyBatis, distributed as a Java project under the Apache 2.0 license. It ships two applications in one repository: a storefront system for shoppers and an administrative back office for operators. The storefront covers the home portal, product recommendation, product search, product display, shopping cart, order flow, member center, customer service, and help center. The back office covers product management, order management, member management, promotion management, operations management, content management, statistics reports, finance management, perm…
About InsForge
InsForge is an all in one, open source backend platform for agentic coding that gives a coding agent database, auth, storage, compute, hosting, and an AI gateway so it can ship full stack apps end to end.
read the full InsForge overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or InsForge more popular?
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars and InsForge has 13,002. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and InsForge free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and InsForge under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and InsForge?
mall is written in Java and InsForge 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, mall or InsForge?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,792 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose InsForge if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.