head to head · open source
Zen vs Cinny
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars, 145 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Cinny has 3,968 stars, 608 forks, 354 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen leads on adoption by 10% (4,347 vs 3,968 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; Cinny is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Cinny 15%. Cinny 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 | Cinny | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.3K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 145 | ⑂ 608 |
| 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 Cinny if
- You want the Cinny feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Cinny 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 Cinny
Cinny A Matrix client focusing primarily on simple, elegant and secure interface. The main goal is to have an instant messaging application that is easy on people and has a modern touch. Roadmap Contributing [!IMPORTANT] We are currently in the process of [replacing] the matrix js sdk with our own SDK. As a result, we will not be accepting any pull requests until further notice. Thank you for your understanding. [replacing]: Getting started The web app is available at [app.cinny.in] and gets updated on each new release. The dev branch is continuously deployed at [dev.cinny.in] but keep in mind that it could have…
read the full Cinny overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or Cinny more popular?
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars and Cinny has 3,968. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and Cinny free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and Cinny under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and Cinny?
Zen is written in Go and Cinny in TypeScript. 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 Cinny?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,347 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Cinny if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.