head to head · open source
Zen vs Tongsuo
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars, 145 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Tongsuo has 1,552 stars, 265 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Zen leads on adoption by 180% (4,347 vs 1,552 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; Tongsuo is written in C under Apache-2.0. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Tongsuo 17%. 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 | Tongsuo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.3K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 145 | ⑂ 265 |
| 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 Tongsuo if
- You want the Tongsuo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and Tongsuo 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 Tongsuo
OpenAtom 铜锁/Tongsuo ========================= [![tongsuo logo]][www.tongsuo.net] [![github actions ci badge]][github actions ci] ![GitHub Release][github release] [![GitHub Downloads (all assets, all releases)][github downloads]]( 铜锁/Tongsuo是一个提供现代密码学算法和安全通信协议的开源基础密码库，为存储、网络、密钥管理、隐私计算等诸多业务场景提供底层的密码学基础能力，实现数据在传输、使用、存储等过程中的私密性、完整性和可认证性，为数据生命周期中的隐私和安全提供保护能力。 铜锁获得了国家密码管理局商用密码检测中心颁发的商用密码产品认证证书，助力用户在国密改造、密评、等保等过程中，更加严谨地满足我国商用密码技术合规的要求。可在此处下载资质原始文件。 特性 ========================= 铜锁提供如下主要的功能特性： 技术合规能力 符合 GM/T 0028《密码模块安全技术要求》的"软件密码模块安全一级"资质 符合 GM/T 0005 2021《随机性检测规范》 零知识证明（ZKP） Bulletproofs range Bulletproofs R1CS 密码学算法…
read the full Tongsuo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or Tongsuo more popular?
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars and Tongsuo has 1,552. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and Tongsuo free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and Tongsuo under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and Tongsuo?
Zen is written in Go and Tongsuo 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, Zen or Tongsuo?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,347 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Tongsuo if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.