head to head · open source
ralph vs cdxgen
ralph has 2,531 GitHub stars, 593 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cdxgen has 1,102 stars, 268 forks, 420 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ralph leads on adoption by 130% (2,531 vs 1,102 stars). ralph is written in Python under Apache-2.0; cdxgen is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. ralph has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, cdxgen 24%. cdxgen 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
| ralph | cdxgen | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.5K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 593 | ⑂ 268 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ralph if
- You weight community size — 2.5K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cdxgen if
- You want the cdxgen feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and cdxgen fits your workflow better
About ralph
Ralph Update 2025/02 As Allegro, we continue to publish Ralph's source code and will maintain its development under a "Sources only" model, without guarantees. We believe this approach will be beneficial, allowing everyone to use and build upon the software. Our current goal is to modernize the software and ensure its long term maintainability, and we're investing into it in 2025. However, we are not operating under a contribution based model. While we welcome discussions, we do not guarantee responses to issues or support for pull requests. If you require commercial support, please visit We sincerely appreciate…
read the full ralph overview →
About cdxgen
[![JSR][badge jsr]][jsr cdxgen] [![NPM][badge npm]][npmjs cdxgen] [![GitHub Releases][badge github releases]][github releases] [![NPM Downloads][badge npm downloads]][npmjs cdxgen] [![GitHub License][badge github license]][github license] [![GitHub Contributors][badge github contributors]][github contributors] [![SWH][badge swh]][swh cdxgen] CycloneDX Generator (cdxgen) cdxgen is a CLI tool, library, REPL, and server to create, validate, sign, and verify software BOMs. It generates CycloneDX JSON BOMs and supports SPDX 3.0.1 JSON LD export. CycloneDX is a full stack BOM specification that is easily created…
read the full cdxgen overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ralph or cdxgen more popular?
ralph has 2,531 GitHub stars and cdxgen has 1,102. ralph has the larger community by that measure.
Are ralph and cdxgen free?
Both are open source. ralph is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cdxgen under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ralph and cdxgen?
ralph is written in Python and cdxgen 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, ralph or cdxgen?
Choose ralph if you want the larger community (2,531 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cdxgen if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.