head to head · open source
ralph vs witness
ralph has 2,531 GitHub stars, 593 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped yesterday. witness has 615 stars, 87 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ralph leads on adoption by 312% (2,531 vs 615 stars). ralph is written in Python under Apache-2.0; witness is written in Go under Apache-2.0. ralph has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, witness 14%. witness 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 | witness | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.5K | ★ 615 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 593 | ⑂ 87 |
| 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 witness if
- You want the witness feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and witness 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 witness
Witness Witness originated at TestifySec and was later donated to the CNCF in toto ecosystem. It is now maintained by the open community. DOCS • CONTRIBUTING • LICENSE bash What does Witness do? ✏️ Attests Witness is a dynamic CLI tool that integrates into pipelines and infrastructure to create an audit trail for your software's entire journey through the software development lifecycle (SDLC) using the in toto specification. 🧐 Verifies Witness also features its own policy engine with embedded support for OPA Rego, so you can ensure that your software was handled safely from source to deployment. What can you do…
read the full witness overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ralph or witness more popular?
ralph has 2,531 GitHub stars and witness has 615. ralph has the larger community by that measure.
Are ralph and witness free?
Both are open source. ralph is licensed under Apache-2.0 and witness under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ralph and witness?
ralph is written in Python and witness 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, ralph or witness?
Choose ralph if you want the larger community (2,531 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose witness if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.