head to head · open source
Puter vs certificates
Puter has 44,062 GitHub stars, 4,140 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. certificates has 9,032 stars, 615 forks, 299 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Puter leads on adoption by 388% (44,062 vs 9,032 stars). Puter is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; certificates is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Puter has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, certificates 7%. Puter 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
| Puter | certificates | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 9.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 615 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Puter if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick certificates if
- You want the certificates feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and certificates fits your workflow better
About Puter
The Open Source Internet Computer! « LIVE DEMO » Puter.com · App Store · Developers · X Puter Puter is an advanced, open source, self hostable internet computer designed to be feature rich, fast, and highly extensible. For Users Puter's goal is to provide you with every app and feature you need to work, create, and play under one roof. From a simple Notepad and Voice Recorder to Spreadsheet and Camera, Puter wants to be the all in one solution for your digital life. For Developers Puter provides everything you need to build and publish web apps and games. From AI to Cloud Storage and Database to Serverless…
read the full Puter overview →
About certificates
step ca step ca is an online certificate authority for secure, automated certificate management for DevOps. It's the server counterpart to the step CLI tool for working with certificates and keys. Both projects are maintained by Smallstep Labs. You can use step ca to: Issue HTTPS server and client certificates that work in browsers (RFC5280 and CA/Browser Forum compliance) Issue TLS certificates for DevOps: VMs, containers, APIs, database connections, Kubernetes pods... Issue SSH certificates: For people, in exchange for single sign on identity tokens For hosts, in exchange for cloud instance identity documents…
read the full certificates overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Puter or certificates more popular?
Puter has 44,062 GitHub stars and certificates has 9,032. Puter has the larger community by that measure.
Are Puter and certificates free?
Both are open source. Puter is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and certificates under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Puter and certificates?
Puter is written in TypeScript and certificates in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Puter or certificates?
Choose Puter if you want the larger community (44,062 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose certificates if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.