head to head · open source
Signal vs helm-secrets
Signal has 29,359 GitHub stars, 6,890 forks, 498 open issues and last shipped yesterday. helm-secrets has 2,029 stars, 154 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Signal leads on adoption by 1,347% (29,359 vs 2,029 stars). Signal is written in Kotlin under AGPL-3.0; helm-secrets is written in Shell under Apache-2.0. Signal has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, helm-secrets 8%. Signal 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
| Signal | helm-secrets | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Kotlin | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 154 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Signal if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick helm-secrets if
- You want the helm-secrets feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and helm-secrets fits your workflow better
About Signal
Signal Android is a secure messaging application for Android devices that delivers private communication via end to end encryption. Developed by Signal Messenger, LLC, it operates within the broader Signal ecosystem, which includes official iOS and desktop clients. The app uses mobile data or Wi Fi to send and receive encrypted messages, voice calls, and video calls without relying on traditional SMS or telephony infrastructure.
read the full Signal overview →
About helm-secrets
helm secrets is a Helm plugin that decrypts encrypted Helm value files on the fly, built for teams that keep Kubernetes secrets in Git or a cloud native secret manager and deploy charts with Helm or a GitOps operator such as ArgoCD.
read the full helm-secrets overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Signal or helm-secrets more popular?
Signal has 29,359 GitHub stars and helm-secrets has 2,029. Signal has the larger community by that measure.
Are Signal and helm-secrets free?
Both are open source. Signal is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and helm-secrets under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Signal and helm-secrets?
Signal is written in Kotlin and helm-secrets in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Signal or helm-secrets?
Choose Signal if you want the larger community (29,359 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose helm-secrets if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.