head to head · open source
Tongsuo vs pki
Tongsuo has 1,554 GitHub stars, 265 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. pki has 515 stars, 160 forks, 46 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Tongsuo leads on adoption by 202% (1,554 vs 515 stars). Tongsuo is written in C under Apache-2.0; pki is written in Java under GPL-2.0. Tongsuo has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, pki 31%. pki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (pki), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Tongsuo | pki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.6K | ★ 515 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 265 | ⑂ 160 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Tongsuo if
- You weight community size — 1.6K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pki if
- You want the pki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and pki fits your workflow better
About Tongsuo
OpenAtom 铜锁/Tongsuo ========================= [![tongsuo logo]][www.tongsuo.net] [![github actions ci badge]][github actions ci] ![GitHub Release][github release] [![GitHub Downloads (all assets, all releases)][github downloads]]( 铜锁/Tongsuo是一个提供现代密码学算法和安全通信协议的开源基础密码库，为存储、网络、密钥管理、隐私计算等诸多业务场景提供底层的密码学基础能力，实现数据在传输、使用、存储等过程中的私密性、完整性和可认证性，为数据生命周期中的隐私和安全提供保护能力。 铜锁获得了国家密码管理局商用密码检测中心颁发的商用密码产品认证证书，助力用户在国密改造、密评、等保等过程中，更加严谨地满足我国商用密码技术合规的要求。可在此处下载资质原始文件。 特性 ========================= 铜锁提供如下主要的功能特性： 技术合规能力 符合 GM/T 0028《密码模块安全技术要求》的"软件密码模块安全一级"资质 符合 GM/T 0005 2021《随机性检测规范》 零知识证明（ZKP） Bulletproofs range Bulletproofs R1CS 密码学算法…
read the full Tongsuo overview →
About pki
Dogtag PKI The Dogtag Certificate System is an enterprise class open source Certificate Authority (CA). It is a full featured system, and has been hardened by real world deployments. It supports all aspects of certificate lifecycle management, including key archival, OCSP and smartcard management, and much more. The Dogtag PKI suite provides the following subsystems: Certificate Authority (CA) Key Recovery Authority (KRA) Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) Responder Token Key Service (TKS) Token Processing System (TPS) Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME) Responder Documentation The best…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Tongsuo or pki more popular?
Tongsuo has 1,554 GitHub stars and pki has 515. Tongsuo has the larger community by that measure.
Are Tongsuo and pki free?
Both are open source. Tongsuo is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pki under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Tongsuo and pki?
Tongsuo is written in C and pki 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, Tongsuo or pki?
Choose Tongsuo if you want the larger community (1,554 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pki if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.