head to head · open source
Zen vs Peergos
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars, 143 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Peergos has 2,524 stars, 199 forks, 103 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen leads on adoption by 67% (4,225 vs 2,524 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; Peergos is written in Java under AGPL-3.0. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Peergos 8%. Peergos 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 | Peergos | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.2K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 143 | ⑂ 199 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen if
- You weight community size — 4.2K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Peergos if
- You want the Peergos feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Peergos fits your workflow better
About Zen
Zen is an open source desktop application written in Go for Windows, macOS, and Linux under the MIT license. It operates as a system wide ad blocker and privacy guard, so it applies to traffic from applications on the machine rather than only to browser tabs. It lives in the desktop security and privacy ecosystem, where users want filtering without browser extensions.
About Peergos
Peergos is a peer to peer secure file storage system, social network, and application protocol built in Java under AGPL 3.0. It lives in the IPFS, IPLD, and libp2p ecosystem and supports a private web where users control their data, decide where it is stored, and determine who can see it. The project addresses centralized services that can track users, expose personal data, and observe relationships or file contents without cryptographic access control.
read the full Peergos overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or Peergos more popular?
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars and Peergos has 2,524. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and Peergos free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and Peergos under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and Peergos?
Zen is written in Go and Peergos in Java. 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 Peergos?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,225 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Peergos if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.