head to head · open source
Tuta vs Tongsuo
Tuta has 7,925 GitHub stars, 639 forks, 1,001 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tongsuo has 1,535 stars, 260 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. Tuta leads on adoption by 416% (7,925 vs 1,535 stars). Tuta is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; Tongsuo is written in C under Apache-2.0. Tuta has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Tongsuo 17%. 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
| Tuta | Tongsuo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.9K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 639 | ⑂ 260 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Tuta if
- You weight community size — 7.9K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Tongsuo if
- You want the Tongsuo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and Tongsuo fits your workflow better
About Tuta
Tuta is an open source, end to end encrypted email, calendar and contacts service for individuals and teams who need private communication to work across every device they own.
About Tongsuo
Tongsuo (铜锁) is an open source C library of modern cryptographic primitives and secure communication protocols, developed under the OpenAtom Foundation, and it is built for teams that need Chinese commercial cryptography, TLS, PKI, and privacy preserving primitives from a single dependency.
read the full Tongsuo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Tuta or Tongsuo more popular?
Tuta has 7,925 GitHub stars and Tongsuo has 1,535. Tuta has the larger community by that measure.
Are Tuta and Tongsuo free?
Both are open source. Tuta is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Tongsuo under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Tuta and Tongsuo?
Tuta is written in TypeScript and Tongsuo 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, Tuta or Tongsuo?
Choose Tuta if you want the larger community (7,925 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Tongsuo if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.