head to head · open source
OpenProject vs Operately
OpenProject has 16,132 GitHub stars, 3,486 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Operately has 554 stars, 70 forks, 85 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenProject leads on adoption by 2,812% (16,132 vs 554 stars). OpenProject is written in Ruby under GPL-3.0; Operately is written in Elixir under a custom or non-standard licence. OpenProject has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, Operately 13%. OpenProject 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
| OpenProject | Operately | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 554 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Ruby | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 70 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenProject if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Operately if
- You want the Operately feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Elixir
- You evaluated both and Operately fits your workflow better
About OpenProject
OpenProject is a web based open source project management software for teams and organizations that need transparency, flexibility, and data sovereignty. It lives in the open source project management ecosystem, with Ruby as the repository language and Angular as a listed topic. The project is positioned as an open alternative to Asana and Basecamp, and the README also compares it with Jira, MS Project, Monday, and YouTrack.
read the full OpenProject overview →
About Operately
Operately is an open source company operating system, written in Elixir with a TypeScript and React front end, and distributed under the Apache 2.0 license according to its README. It is pitched as an opinionated operating system for running an organization rather than as another generic project management tool. The project lives in the open source business software and project management ecosystem, with a hosted home at operately.com and a self hostable release archive on GitHub.
read the full Operately overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenProject or Operately more popular?
OpenProject has 16,132 GitHub stars and Operately has 554. OpenProject has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenProject and Operately free?
Both are open source. OpenProject is licensed under GPL-3.0, and Operately has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenProject and Operately?
OpenProject is written in Ruby and Operately in Elixir. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenProject or Operately?
Choose OpenProject if you want the larger community (16,132 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Operately if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.