head to head · open source
Zen vs Wire
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars, 145 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Wire has 2,556 stars, 180 forks, 173 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. Zen leads on adoption by 70% (4,347 vs 2,556 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; Wire is written in various languages under GPL-3.0. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Wire 7%. 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 | Wire | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.3K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | — |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-01-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 145 | ⑂ 180 |
| 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 Wire if
- You want the Wire feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- You evaluated both and Wire 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 Wire
Wire™ Open source The privacy page and the privacy and security whitepapers explain the details of the encryption algorithms and protocols used. For licensing information, see the attached LICENSE file and the list of third party licenses at wire.com. If you compile the open source software that we make available from time to time to develop your own mobile, desktop or web application, and cause that application to connect to our servers for any purposes, we refer to that resulting application as an “Open Source App”. All Open Source Apps are subject to, and may only be used and/or commercialized in accordance…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or Wire more popular?
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars and Wire has 2,556. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and Wire free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and Wire under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and Wire?
Zen is written in Go and Wire in various languages. 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 Wire?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,347 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Wire if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.