head to head · open source
Signal vs Peergos
Signal has 29,568 GitHub stars, 6,933 forks, 498 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Peergos has 2,546 stars, 204 forks, 103 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Signal leads on adoption by 1,061% (29,568 vs 2,546 stars). Signal is written in Kotlin under AGPL-3.0; Peergos is written in Java under AGPL-3.0. Signal has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, Peergos 8%. Peergos 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Signal | Peergos | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Kotlin | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 204 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Signal if
- You weight community size — 30K 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 Peergos if
- You want the Peergos feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Peergos fits your workflow better
About Signal
Signal Android Signal is a simple, powerful, and secure messenger that uses your phone's data connection (WiFi/4G/5G) to communicate securely. Millions of people use Signal every day for free and instantaneous communication anywhere in the world. Send and receive high fidelity messages, participate in HD voice/video calls, and explore a growing set of new features that help you stay connected. Signal’s advanced privacy preserving technology is always enabled, so you can focus on sharing the moments that matter with the people who matter to you. Currently available on the Play Store and signal.org. Also available…
read the full Signal overview →
About Peergos
Peergos ======== Peergos is building the next web the private web, where end users are in control. Imagine web apps being secure by default and unable to track you. Imagine being able to control exactly what personal data each web app can see. Imagine never having to log in to an app ever again. You own your data and decide where it is stored and who can see it. At Peergos, we believe that privacy is a fundamental human right and we want to make it easy for everyone to interact online in ways that respect this right. The foundation of Peergos is a peer to peer encrypted global filesystem with fine grained access…
read the full Peergos overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Data Security & Privacy projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Data Security & Privacy field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Signal or Peergos more popular?
Signal has 29,568 GitHub stars and Peergos has 2,546. Signal has the larger community by that measure.
Are Signal and Peergos free?
Both are open source. Signal is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Peergos under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Signal and Peergos?
Signal is written in Kotlin and Peergos in Java. 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 Peergos?
Choose Signal if you want the larger community (29,568 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Peergos if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.