head to head · open source
Uptime Kuma vs OpenVPN
Uptime Kuma has 91,477 GitHub stars, 8,426 forks, 805 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenVPN has 14,562 stars, 3,398 forks, 226 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Uptime Kuma leads on adoption by 528% (91,477 vs 14,562 stars). Uptime Kuma is written in JavaScript under MIT; OpenVPN is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence. Uptime Kuma has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, OpenVPN 23%. Uptime Kuma 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
| Uptime Kuma | OpenVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.4K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Uptime Kuma if
- You weight community size — 91K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenVPN if
- You want the OpenVPN feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and OpenVPN fits your workflow better
About Uptime Kuma
Uptime Kuma is a free, MIT licensed, self hosted monitoring tool with a reactive web dashboard, built for operators and teams that want to watch their own HTTP, TCP, and DNS endpoints and keep the resulting data on their own infrastructure.
read the full Uptime Kuma overview →
About OpenVPN
OpenVPN is open source VPN daemon. It provides secure tunneling for network connections. Project lives in Infrastructure & Operations / Networking & Connectivity ecosystem. Tagline says Zero Trust VPN solutions for secure business networking. GitHub description says OpenVPN is an open source VPN daemon. Repository language is C. GitHub license field says NOASSERTION, while README states GNU General Public License version 2. README states copyright 2002 2026 OpenVPN Inc.
read the full OpenVPN overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Uptime Kuma or OpenVPN more popular?
Uptime Kuma has 91,477 GitHub stars and OpenVPN has 14,562. Uptime Kuma has the larger community by that measure.
Are Uptime Kuma and OpenVPN free?
Both are open source. Uptime Kuma is licensed under MIT, and OpenVPN has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Uptime Kuma and OpenVPN?
Uptime Kuma is written in JavaScript and OpenVPN 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, Uptime Kuma or OpenVPN?
Choose Uptime Kuma if you want the larger community (91,477 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenVPN if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.