head to head · open source
Shelf vs guac
Shelf has 3,014 GitHub stars, 367 forks, 181 open issues and last shipped yesterday. guac has 1,540 stars, 215 forks, 89 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Shelf leads on adoption by 96% (3,014 vs 1,540 stars). Shelf is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; guac is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Shelf has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, guac 14%. Shelf 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
| Shelf | guac | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.0K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 367 | ⑂ 215 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Shelf if
- You weight community size — 3.0K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick guac if
- You want the guac 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 guac fits your workflow better
About Shelf
Shelf is a free, open source platform for tracking physical assets, including equipment, devices, tools, vehicles, props, and inventory. It is built for teams that need to know what they have, where it is, and who is using it. The project sits in the IT asset management, equipment management, scheduling, and operations software ecosystem.
read the full Shelf overview →
About guac
GUAC is an OpenSSF incubating project under the Supply Chain Integrity WG that aggregates software security metadata into a high fidelity graph database. It is written in Go, released under Apache 2.0, and positioned in the software supply chain security ecosystem as the aggregation and synthesis layer of the supply chain transparency model.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shelf or guac more popular?
Shelf has 3,014 GitHub stars and guac has 1,540. Shelf has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shelf and guac free?
Both are open source. Shelf is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and guac under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shelf and guac?
Shelf is written in TypeScript and guac 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, Shelf or guac?
Choose Shelf if you want the larger community (3,014 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose guac if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.