head to head · open source
Puter vs UnKey
Puter has 43,557 GitHub stars, 4,062 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. UnKey has 5,438 stars, 636 forks, 163 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Puter leads on adoption by 701% (43,557 vs 5,438 stars). Puter is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; UnKey is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Puter has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, UnKey 12%. Puter was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (open-source), 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
| Puter | UnKey | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 636 |
| 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 UnKey if
- You want the UnKey feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and UnKey fits your workflow better
About Puter
Puter is an open source, self hostable internet computer that delivers a full desktop environment running directly in a web browser. It functions as a cloud based operating system, integrating file storage, applications, and developer tooling into a single cohesive platform. The project lives in the browser based desktop and cloud infrastructure ecosystem, positioning itself as a free and open alternative to proprietary cloud desktop services.
read the full Puter overview →
About UnKey
Unkey is a developer platform for modern APIs, written in Go and published as a source available repository on GitHub. It brings several pieces of API infrastructure into one place: instant API deployment, globally distributed gateways that route and authenticate traffic, API key issuance and verification, ratelimiting, permissions and role based access control, usage analytics, and audit logs. The project describes itself as unifying infrastructure so that teams can ship faster, and it lives in the security and privacy space, specifically secrets management and API key management, alongside the broader API gatew…
read the full UnKey overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Puter or UnKey more popular?
Puter has 43,557 GitHub stars and UnKey has 5,438. Puter has the larger community by that measure.
Are Puter and UnKey free?
Both are open source. Puter is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and UnKey has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Puter and UnKey?
Puter is written in TypeScript and UnKey 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 UnKey?
Choose Puter if you want the larger community (43,557 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose UnKey if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.