head to head · open source
vaultwarden vs Bitwarden
vaultwarden has 70,127 GitHub stars, 3,400 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bitwarden has 20,554 stars, 1,826 forks, 230 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vaultwarden leads on adoption by 241% (70,127 vs 20,554 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%. vaultwarden 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 | ★ 70K | ★ 21K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vaultwarden if
- You weight community size — 70K 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
An alternative server implementation of the Bitwarden Client API, written in Rust and compatible with official Bitwarden clients [disclaimer], perfect for self hosted deployment where running the official resource heavy service might not be ideal. %3D'svg'%5D%2F %5Blocal name()%3D'g'%5D%5B2%5D%2F %5Blocal name()%3D'text'%5D%5B4%5D&style=flat square&logo=rust&label=dependencies&color=005AA4) [!IMPORTANT] When using this server, please report any bugs or suggestions directly to us (see Get in touch), regardless of whatever clients you are using (mobile, desktop, browser...). DO NOT use the official Bitwarden…
read the full vaultwarden overview →
About Bitwarden
The Bitwarden Server project contains the APIs, database, and other core infrastructure items needed for the "backend" of all bitwarden client applications. The server project is written in C using .NET Core with ASP.NET Core. The database is written in T SQL/SQL Server. The codebase can be developed, built, run, and deployed cross platform on Windows, macOS, and Linux distributions. Developer Documentation Please refer to the Server Setup Guide in the Contributing Documentation for build instructions, recommended tooling, code style tips, and lots of other great information to get you started. Deploy You can…
read the full Bitwarden overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vaultwarden or Bitwarden more popular?
vaultwarden has 70,127 GitHub stars and Bitwarden has 20,554. 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 (70,127 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.