head to head · open source
salt vs liubai
salt has 15,661 GitHub stars, 5,610 forks, 1,885 open issues and last shipped yesterday. liubai has 864 stars, 87 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. salt leads on adoption by 1,713% (15,661 vs 864 stars). salt is written in Python under Apache-2.0; liubai is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. salt has attracted 36% as many forks as stars, liubai 10%. salt 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
| salt | liubai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 864 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 87 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick salt if
- You weight community size — 16K 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 liubai if
- You want the liubai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and liubai fits your workflow better
About salt
Salt is a Python based, event driven automation framework that deploys, configures and manages complex IT systems at scale, built for system administrators, platform and infrastructure engineers, and DevOps teams responsible for keeping many servers, virtual machines, containers, databases, web servers and network devices in a consistent desired state.
About liubai
Liubai is an AGPL 3.0, local first application for notes, schedules, to do lists and tasks with built in AI, written in TypeScript and aimed at individuals and small teams who want to plan their day and collaborate through WeChat without handing their data to a closed service.
read the full liubai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is salt or liubai more popular?
salt has 15,661 GitHub stars and liubai has 864. salt has the larger community by that measure.
Are salt and liubai free?
Both are open source. salt is licensed under Apache-2.0 and liubai under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between salt and liubai?
salt is written in Python and liubai 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, salt or liubai?
Choose salt if you want the larger community (15,661 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose liubai if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.