head to head · open source
pwd.sh vs passman
pwd.sh has 1,563 GitHub stars, 135 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. passman has 823 stars, 118 forks, 101 open issues and last shipped today. pwd.sh leads on adoption by 90% (1,563 vs 823 stars). pwd.sh is written in Shell under MIT; passman is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. pwd.sh has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, passman 14%. passman was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (password-manager), 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
| pwd.sh | passman | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.6K | ★ 823 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Shell | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-24 | 2026-09-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 135 | ⑂ 118 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pwd.sh if
- You weight community size — 1.6K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick passman if
- You want the passman feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and passman fits your workflow better
About pwd.sh
pwd.sh is a Bash script that manages text secrets such as passwords by storing each one in a GnuPG symmetric encrypted file, and it is for people who work in a terminal and prefer to keep their own encrypted store rather than hand it to a hosted password service.
read the full pwd.sh overview →
About passman
Passman is a full featured, open source password manager that runs as an app inside Nextcloud, for individuals and teams who already self host Nextcloud and want their credentials to stay on infrastructure they control.
read the full passman overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pwd.sh or passman more popular?
pwd.sh has 1,563 GitHub stars and passman has 823. pwd.sh has the larger community by that measure.
Are pwd.sh and passman free?
Both are open source. pwd.sh is licensed under MIT and passman under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pwd.sh and passman?
pwd.sh is written in Shell and passman in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, pwd.sh or passman?
Choose pwd.sh if you want the larger community (1,563 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose passman if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.