head to head · open source
vaultwarden vs Padloc
vaultwarden has 70,127 GitHub stars, 3,400 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Padloc has 2,942 stars, 271 forks, 105 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vaultwarden leads on adoption by 2,284% (70,127 vs 2,942 stars). vaultwarden is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; Padloc is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. vaultwarden has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Padloc 9%. vaultwarden 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
| vaultwarden | Padloc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 70K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 271 |
| 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 Padloc if
- You want the Padloc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Padloc 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 Padloc
Padloc Simple, secure password and data management for individuals and teams. About This repo is split into multiple packages: How to use As you can see in the About section, there are lots of different components to play with! But at a minimum, in order to set up and use your own instance of Padloc you'll need to install and configure the Server and Web Client. In practice, there a few different ways to do this, but if you just want to install and test Padloc locally, doing so is really quite easy: The web client is now available at In depth guides on how to host your own "productive" version of Padloc and how…
read the full Padloc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vaultwarden or Padloc more popular?
vaultwarden has 70,127 GitHub stars and Padloc has 2,942. vaultwarden has the larger community by that measure.
Are vaultwarden and Padloc free?
Both are open source. vaultwarden is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Padloc under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vaultwarden and Padloc?
vaultwarden is written in Rust and Padloc in JavaScript. 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 Padloc?
Choose vaultwarden if you want the larger community (70,127 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Padloc if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.