head to head · open source
Shelf vs totum-mit
Shelf has 3,014 GitHub stars, 367 forks, 181 open issues and last shipped yesterday. totum-mit has 981 stars, 57 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Shelf leads on adoption by 207% (3,014 vs 981 stars). Shelf is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; totum-mit is written in PHP under MIT. Shelf has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, totum-mit 6%. 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 | totum-mit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.0K | ★ 981 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 367 | ⑂ 57 |
| 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 totum-mit if
- You want the totum-mit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and totum-mit 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 totum-mit
Totum MIT is a free, MIT licensed, self hosted database application platform written in PHP and built on PostgreSQL, which lets non programmers assemble internal business tools such as CRM, ERP, order management, and accounting by writing a few lines of its own small code language, totum code , instead of SQL or hand built application code.
read the full totum-mit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shelf or totum-mit more popular?
Shelf has 3,014 GitHub stars and totum-mit has 981. Shelf has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shelf and totum-mit free?
Both are open source. Shelf is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and totum-mit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shelf and totum-mit?
Shelf is written in TypeScript and totum-mit in PHP. 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 totum-mit?
Choose Shelf if you want the larger community (3,014 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose totum-mit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.