head to head · open source
ralph vs packj
ralph has 2,531 GitHub stars, 593 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped yesterday. packj has 694 stars, 38 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. ralph leads on adoption by 265% (2,531 vs 694 stars). ralph is written in Python under Apache-2.0; packj is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. ralph has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, packj 5%. ralph 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 | packj | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.5K | ★ 694 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 593 | ⑂ 38 |
| 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 packj if
- You want the packj feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and packj 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 packj
Packj flags malicious/risky open source packages Packj (pronounced package) is a tool to help to mitigate software supply chain attacks. It can detect malicious, vulnerable, abandoned, typo squatting, and other "risky" packages from popular open source package registries, such as NPM, RubyGems, and PyPI. It can be easily customized to minimize noise. Packj started as a PhD research project and is currently being developed under various govt grants. Note Self hosted Packj webserver and several integrations coming later this month :punch: Watch this repo to stay up to date. Contents Get started available as Docker…
read the full packj overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ralph or packj more popular?
ralph has 2,531 GitHub stars and packj has 694. ralph has the larger community by that measure.
Are ralph and packj free?
Both are open source. ralph is licensed under Apache-2.0 and packj under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ralph and packj?
ralph is written in Python and packj in Python. 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 packj?
Choose ralph if you want the larger community (2,531 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose packj if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.