head to head · open source
OpenProject vs projectile
OpenProject has 16,132 GitHub stars, 3,486 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped yesterday. projectile has 4,238 stars, 588 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenProject leads on adoption by 281% (16,132 vs 4,238 stars). OpenProject is written in Ruby under GPL-3.0; projectile is written in Emacs Lisp under GPL-3.0. OpenProject has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, projectile 14%. 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 | projectile | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Emacs Lisp |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 588 |
| 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 projectile if
- You want the projectile feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Emacs Lisp
- You evaluated both and projectile 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 projectile
Projectile is a project interaction library for Emacs, and it lives in the Emacs ecosystem. It treats a directory or repository as a project, then adds commands that operate on the whole project rather than on a single buffer.
read the full projectile overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenProject or projectile more popular?
OpenProject has 16,132 GitHub stars and projectile has 4,238. OpenProject has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenProject and projectile free?
Both are open source. OpenProject is licensed under GPL-3.0 and projectile under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenProject and projectile?
OpenProject is written in Ruby and projectile in Emacs Lisp. 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 projectile?
Choose OpenProject if you want the larger community (16,132 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose projectile if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.