head to head · open source
gitleaks vs rowboat
gitleaks has 30,603 GitHub stars, 2,330 forks, 481 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. rowboat has 18,126 stars, 1,816 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gitleaks leads on adoption by 69% (30,603 vs 18,126 stars). gitleaks is written in Go under MIT; rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. gitleaks has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, rowboat 10%. rowboat 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
| gitleaks | rowboat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gitleaks if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rowboat if
- You want the rowboat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and rowboat fits your workflow better
About gitleaks
Gitleaks [!WARNING] Gitleaks is feature complete. I'm not merging new features into Gitleaks. Future releases will be security patches only. I'm shifting my focus to Betterleaks [license]: ./LICENSE [badge license]: [go docs badge]: [go docs]: [badge build]: [build]: [go report card badge]: [go report card]: [dockerhub]: [dockerhub badge]: [gitleaks action]: [gitleaks badge]: [![GitHub Action Test][badge build]][build] [![Docker Hub][dockerhub badge]][dockerhub] [![Gitleaks Action][gitleaks badge]][gitleaks action] [![GoDoc][go docs badge]][go docs] [![GoReportCard][go report card badge]][go report card]…
read the full gitleaks overview →
About rowboat
Rowboat A desktop AI coworker with a memory of your work and built in surfaces to act on it. 简体中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português Rowboat indexes your work into a living knowledge graph and uses that to get work done on your machine. It includes work surfaces for collaborating with AI: email client, notes, browser, code mode, meeting note taker, and workspaces for different projects. Download latest for Mac/Windows/Linux: Download Demo apps to code · Demo knowledge graph ⭐ If you find Rowboat useful, please star the repo. It helps more people find it. Overview Brain Rowboat indexes email, meetings…
read the full rowboat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gitleaks or rowboat more popular?
gitleaks has 30,603 GitHub stars and rowboat has 18,126. gitleaks has the larger community by that measure.
Are gitleaks and rowboat free?
Both are open source. gitleaks is licensed under MIT and rowboat under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gitleaks and rowboat?
gitleaks is written in Go and rowboat in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gitleaks or rowboat?
Choose gitleaks if you want the larger community (30,603 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rowboat if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.