head to head · open source
certificates vs Tuta
certificates has 9,037 GitHub stars, 616 forks, 299 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Tuta has 8,110 stars, 653 forks, 1,001 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. certificates leads on adoption by 11% (9,037 vs 8,110 stars). certificates is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Tuta is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. certificates has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Tuta 8%. Tuta was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (security), 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
| certificates | Tuta | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.0K | ★ 8.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 616 | ⑂ 653 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick certificates if
- You weight community size — 9.0K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Tuta if
- You want the Tuta feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Tuta fits your workflow better
About certificates
step ca step ca is an online certificate authority for secure, automated certificate management for DevOps. It's the server counterpart to the step CLI tool for working with certificates and keys. Both projects are maintained by Smallstep Labs. You can use step ca to: Issue HTTPS server and client certificates that work in browsers (RFC5280 and CA/Browser Forum compliance) Issue TLS certificates for DevOps: VMs, containers, APIs, database connections, Kubernetes pods... Issue SSH certificates: For people, in exchange for single sign on identity tokens For hosts, in exchange for cloud instance identity documents…
read the full certificates overview →
About Tuta
Tuta Mail makes encryption easy Tuta Mail is the secure email service with built in end to end encryption that enables you to communicate securely with anyone on all your devices. Forum for bug reports/feature requests: Roadmap: Issue and feature tracker: Please submit your feature requests via Reddit or via support mail. Web client • iOS App Store • Desktop Client Translating Tuta See TRANSLATING.md Building See BUILDING.md. Developing Tuta See HACKING.md. Contribution policy This project does not accept contributions or bug reports produced, in part or in full, with assistance of large language models…
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Frequently asked questions
Is certificates or Tuta more popular?
certificates has 9,037 GitHub stars and Tuta has 8,110. certificates has the larger community by that measure.
Are certificates and Tuta free?
Both are open source. certificates is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tuta under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between certificates and Tuta?
certificates is written in Go and Tuta in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, certificates or Tuta?
Choose certificates if you want the larger community (9,037 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Tuta if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.