head to head · open source
OpenProject vs Watson
OpenProject has 16,933 GitHub stars, 3,676 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Watson has 2,543 stars, 261 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. OpenProject leads on adoption by 566% (16,933 vs 2,543 stars). OpenProject is written in Ruby under GPL-3.0; Watson is written in Python under MIT. OpenProject has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, Watson 10%. 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 | Watson | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2025-12-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.7K | ⑂ 261 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenProject if
- You weight community size — 17K 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 Watson if
- You want the Watson feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Watson fits your workflow better
About OpenProject
OpenProject We empower teams to achieve great things together for the good of society. OpenProject is a web based open source project management software for teams and organizations that require transparency, flexibility, and data sovereignty. Manage projects, portfolios, products, tasks, bugs, agile workflows, roadmaps, and team collaboration in a single platform. OpenProject can be self hosted and is designed for organizations looking for an open source enterprise ready alternative to tools such as Jira, MS Project, Monday, Asana, YouTrack while maintaining full control over their data and infrastructure…
read the full OpenProject overview →
About Watson
.. image:: Watson is here to help you manage your time. You want to know how much time you are spending on your projects? You want to generate a nice report for your client? Watson is here for you. Wanna know what it looks like? Check this below. Watson screenshot Nice isn't it? Quick start Installation On OS X, the easiest way to install watson is using Homebrew : .. code:: bash $ brew update && brew install watson On other platforms, install watson using pip or pip3, depending on which one is available: .. code:: bash $ pip install td watson or: .. code:: bash $ pip3 install td watson If you need more details…
read the full Watson overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenProject or Watson more popular?
OpenProject has 16,933 GitHub stars and Watson has 2,543. OpenProject has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenProject and Watson free?
Both are open source. OpenProject is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Watson under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenProject and Watson?
OpenProject is written in Ruby and Watson in Python. 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 Watson?
Choose OpenProject if you want the larger community (16,933 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Watson if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.