head to head · open source
passforios vs Strongbox
passforios has 1,650 GitHub stars, 117 forks, 176 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Strongbox has 1,474 stars, 126 forks, 230 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. passforios leads on adoption by 12% (1,650 vs 1,474 stars). passforios is written in Swift under MIT; Strongbox is written in Objective-C under AGPL-3.0. passforios has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Strongbox 9%. passforios was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (password-manager, password-store), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| passforios | Strongbox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.6K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Swift | Objective-C |
| Last push | 2026-09-26 | 2026-07-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 117 | ⑂ 126 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick passforios if
- You weight community size — 1.6K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Strongbox if
- You want the Strongbox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Objective-C
- You evaluated both and Strongbox fits your workflow better
About passforios
Pass Pass is an iOS client compatible with ZX2C4's Pass command line application. It is a password manager using GPG for encryption and Git for version control. Pass for iOS is available in App Store with the name "Pass Password Store", and both iPhone and iPad are supported. You can also help us test beta versions through TestFlight. Features Compatible with the Password Store command line tool. View, copy, add, and edit password entries. Encrypt and decrypt password entries by PGP keys. Synchronize with your password Git repository. User friendly interface: search, long press to copy, copy and open link, etc…
read the full passforios overview →
About Strongbox
Strongbox A native Password Manager for iOS & macOS crafted by artisan Indie developers! Strongbox supports the well known, portable and open Password Safe (version 3) and KeePass file formats (KeePass 1 and 2, i.e. KDB, KDBX (3.1 and 4)). Strongbox uses encryption algoritms likes TwoFish, Argon2d, ChaCha20, Aes, Salsa20 and various other cryptographic techniques (SHA256s, HMACs, CSPRNGs) to store groups and entries, containing various secrets, mostly designed around password storage. You can also store file attachments in KeePass format safes. YubiKey is also supported. Localization Help Wanted If you would…
read the full Strongbox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is passforios or Strongbox more popular?
passforios has 1,650 GitHub stars and Strongbox has 1,474. passforios has the larger community by that measure.
Are passforios and Strongbox free?
Both are open source. passforios is licensed under MIT and Strongbox under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between passforios and Strongbox?
passforios is written in Swift and Strongbox in Objective-C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, passforios or Strongbox?
Choose passforios if you want the larger community (1,650 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Strongbox if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.