head to head · open source
Shelf vs packj
Shelf has 3,049 GitHub stars, 384 forks, 181 open issues and last shipped yesterday. packj has 694 stars, 38 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Shelf leads on adoption by 339% (3,049 vs 694 stars). Shelf is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; packj is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Shelf has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, packj 5%. 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 | packj | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.0K | ★ 694 |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 384 | ⑂ 38 |
| 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 Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- 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 Shelf
Open source asset management infrastructure for everyone. Website · Documentation · Discord · Twitter Shelf is a platform for tracking physical assets — equipment, devices, tools, vehicles, props, inventory. It's built for teams that need to know what they have, where it is, and who's using it. Organizations use Shelf to manage thousands of assets across locations with role based access for their teams. Features QR asset tags — Generate and print QR codes. Scan with any phone to view, check out, or report an asset. Bookings and reservations — Schedule equipment, prevent double bookings, set…
read the full Shelf 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 Shelf or packj more popular?
Shelf has 3,049 GitHub stars and packj has 694. Shelf has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shelf and packj free?
Both are open source. Shelf has no licence declared in this registry, and packj is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Shelf and packj?
Shelf is written in TypeScript 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, Shelf or packj?
Choose Shelf if you want the larger community (3,049 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose packj if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.