head to head · open source
Leantime vs SparkleShare
Leantime has 11,612 GitHub stars, 1,131 forks, 328 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. SparkleShare has 4,979 stars, 569 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped 19 days ago. Leantime leads on adoption by 133% (11,612 vs 4,979 stars). Leantime is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; SparkleShare is written in C# under GPL-3.0. Leantime has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, SparkleShare 11%. Leantime 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
| Leantime | SparkleShare | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-07 | 2026-09-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 569 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Leantime if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SparkleShare if
- You want the SparkleShare feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and SparkleShare fits your workflow better
About Leantime
Leantime is an open source project management system in the Business Software / Project & Work Management category, written in PHP and licensed under AGPL 3.0. It is aimed at non project managers and combines strategy, planning, and execution in one place. The project describes itself as built with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia in mind.
read the full Leantime overview →
About SparkleShare
SparkleShare is a free and open source file sharing and collaboration application written in C and released under the GNU GPLv3 or later, with its Sparkles library under the GNU LGPLv3 or later. It runs on Linux distributions, macOS, and Windows, and it lives in the desktop and self hosted cloud storage ecosystem alongside the Git and Git LFS tooling it depends on. The project has been on GitHub for roughly sixteen years, carries about 4,979 stars and 569 forks, and had its most recent push in September 2026.
read the full SparkleShare overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Leantime or SparkleShare more popular?
Leantime has 11,612 GitHub stars and SparkleShare has 4,979. Leantime has the larger community by that measure.
Are Leantime and SparkleShare free?
Both are open source. Leantime is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SparkleShare under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Leantime and SparkleShare?
Leantime is written in PHP and SparkleShare in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Leantime or SparkleShare?
Choose Leantime if you want the larger community (11,612 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose SparkleShare if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.