head to head · open source
pwd.sh vs rowel
pwd.sh has 1,564 GitHub stars, 132 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. rowel has 964 stars, 82 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pwd.sh leads on adoption by 62% (1,564 vs 964 stars). pwd.sh is written in Shell under MIT; rowel is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. pwd.sh has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, rowel 9%. rowel was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (cryptography, encryption, password, 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 | rowel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.6K | ★ 964 |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Shell | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-19 | 2026-11-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 132 | ⑂ 82 |
| 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 rowel if
- You want the rowel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rowel fits your workflow better
About pwd.sh
pwd.sh is a Bash script to manage text secrets, such as passwords, using GnuPG. Each secret is saved to a randomly named file in a directory. An encrypted index maps usernames to secrets contained in files. Both the index and files can be decrypted directly with GnuPG without pwd.sh. Install Download from Releases, or to use the latest version, clone the repository: Or download the script directly: Use Run the script interactively using ./pwd.sh or symlink to a directory in PATH : w write (create) a secret r read (access) a secret l list secret names and paths s generate a random secret u generate a random…
read the full pwd.sh overview →
About rowel
Free Offline first Password Manager for MacOS, Windows and Linux. ❤️ it? Then ⭐️ it on GitHub or Tweet about it. Features Store Login/Password credentials Credit card Information Secure notes to store sensitive information One click Strong Password Generation Time based One Time Passwords support (TOTP) Google Drive Sync (optional) No data is leaving your computer: Your vault is a locally stored, encrypted SQLite database (SQLCipher); each entry's secrets are sealed in an extra application level AEAD layer Secrets stay encrypted at rest and in memory, decrypted only when you reveal or copy them Ability to…
read the full rowel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pwd.sh or rowel more popular?
pwd.sh has 1,564 GitHub stars and rowel has 964. pwd.sh has the larger community by that measure.
Are pwd.sh and rowel free?
Both are open source. pwd.sh is licensed under MIT and rowel under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pwd.sh and rowel?
pwd.sh is written in Shell and rowel in Rust. 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 rowel?
Choose pwd.sh if you want the larger community (1,564 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rowel if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.