head to head · open source
Unleash vs GrowthBook
Unleash has 13,811 GitHub stars, 896 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GrowthBook has 8,376 stars, 849 forks, 793 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Unleash leads on adoption by 65% (13,811 vs 8,376 stars). Unleash is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; GrowthBook is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Unleash has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, GrowthBook 10%. GrowthBook was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (continuous-delivery), 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
| Unleash | GrowthBook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 8.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 896 | ⑂ 849 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Unleash if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick GrowthBook if
- You want the GrowthBook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and GrowthBook fits your workflow better
About Unleash
Unleash is an open source feature management platform written in TypeScript and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It lives in the DevOps, continuous delivery, and application security ecosystem, and its topics describe feature flags, feature toggles, activation strategies, experiments, and collaboration.
read the full Unleash overview →
About GrowthBook
GrowthBook is an open source platform for feature flags, A/B experimentation, and product analytics that product, data, and platform teams can either consume through a hosted cloud account or run entirely on their own infrastructure.
read the full GrowthBook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Unleash or GrowthBook more popular?
Unleash has 13,811 GitHub stars and GrowthBook has 8,376. Unleash has the larger community by that measure.
Are Unleash and GrowthBook free?
Both are open source. Unleash is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and GrowthBook has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Unleash and GrowthBook?
Unleash is written in TypeScript and GrowthBook 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, Unleash or GrowthBook?
Choose Unleash if you want the larger community (13,811 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose GrowthBook if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.