head to head · open source
Passbolt vs PearPass
Passbolt has 6,127 GitHub stars, 400 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PearPass has 534 stars, 70 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Passbolt leads on adoption by 1,047% (6,127 vs 534 stars). Passbolt is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; PearPass is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Passbolt has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, PearPass 13%. Passbolt 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
| Passbolt | PearPass | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.1K | ★ 534 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 400 | ⑂ 70 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Passbolt if
- You weight community size — 6.1K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PearPass if
- You want the PearPass feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and PearPass fits your workflow better
About Passbolt
Passbolt is a security first, open source password manager for teams, published here as the Passbolt Community Edition (CE) JSON API under the AGPL 3.0 licence and built for organizations that need to centralize, organize and share passwords and secrets on infrastructure they control.
read the full Passbolt overview →
About PearPass
PearPass is an open source, end to end encrypted password and identity manager for macOS, Linux, and Windows that keeps credentials encrypted on disk and syncs them directly between devices over Pear Runtime rather than through a central server.
read the full PearPass overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Passbolt or PearPass more popular?
Passbolt has 6,127 GitHub stars and PearPass has 534. Passbolt has the larger community by that measure.
Are Passbolt and PearPass free?
Both are open source. Passbolt is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and PearPass has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Passbolt and PearPass?
Passbolt is written in PHP and PearPass 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, Passbolt or PearPass?
Choose Passbolt if you want the larger community (6,127 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose PearPass if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.