head to head · open source
Zen vs certstrap
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars, 145 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. certstrap has 2,462 stars, 212 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Zen leads on adoption by 77% (4,347 vs 2,462 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; certstrap is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, certstrap 9%. Zen 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
| Zen | certstrap | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.3K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 145 | ⑂ 212 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen if
- You weight community size — 4.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick certstrap if
- You want the certstrap feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and certstrap fits your workflow better
About Zen
Zen: Your Comprehensive Ad Blocker and Privacy Guard There is, simply, no way, to ignore privacy. Because a citizenry’s freedoms are interdependent, to surrender your own privacy is really to surrender everyone’s. Edward Snowden, Permanent Record Website • Mastodon • Bluesky • Discord • Documentation Zen is an open source system wide ad blocker and privacy guard for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It works by setting up a proxy that intercepts HTTP requests from all applications, and blocks those serving ads, tracking scripts that monitor your behavior, malware, and other unwanted content. By operating at the system…
About certstrap
certstrap A simple certificate manager written in Go, to bootstrap your own certificate authority and public key infrastructure. Adapted from etcd ca. certstrap is a very convenient app if you don't feel like dealing with openssl, its myriad of options or config files. Common Uses certstrap allows you to build your own certificate system: 1. Initialize certificate authorities 2. Create identities and certificate signature requests for hosts 3. Sign and generate certificates Certificate architecture certstrap can init multiple certificate authorities to sign certificates with. Users can make arbitrarily long…
read the full certstrap overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or certstrap more popular?
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars and certstrap has 2,462. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and certstrap free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and certstrap under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and certstrap?
Zen is written in Go and certstrap in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zen or certstrap?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,347 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose certstrap if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.