head to head · open source
vaultwarden vs Bitwarden
vaultwarden has 67,795 GitHub stars, 3,228 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Bitwarden has 20,156 stars, 1,772 forks, 230 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vaultwarden leads on adoption by 236% (67,795 vs 20,156 stars). vaultwarden is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; Bitwarden is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence. vaultwarden has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Bitwarden 9%. Bitwarden was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (bitwarden, docker), 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
| vaultwarden | Bitwarden | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 20K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vaultwarden if
- You weight community size — 68K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Bitwarden if
- You want the Bitwarden feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and Bitwarden fits your workflow better
About vaultwarden
Vaultwarden is an unofficial, Bitwarden compatible server implementation of the Bitwarden Client API written in Rust, aimed at self hosters who want to run their own vault backend for the official Bitwarden clients without the resource demands of the official service.
read the full vaultwarden overview →
About Bitwarden
Bitwarden Server is the backend infrastructure for Bitwarden client applications, and it lives in the .NET ecosystem. The repository contains the APIs, database, and core services that support secure password management for individuals and businesses.
read the full Bitwarden overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vaultwarden or Bitwarden more popular?
vaultwarden has 67,795 GitHub stars and Bitwarden has 20,156. vaultwarden has the larger community by that measure.
Are vaultwarden and Bitwarden free?
Both are open source. vaultwarden is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Bitwarden has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between vaultwarden and Bitwarden?
vaultwarden is written in Rust and Bitwarden 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, vaultwarden or Bitwarden?
Choose vaultwarden if you want the larger community (67,795 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Bitwarden if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.