Forgejo vs Gitea

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted git hosting & forges options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureForgejoGitea
CategoryGit Hosting & ForgesGit Hosting & Forges
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metaldocker, binary, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 5,000★ 57,266
First released20222016
ReplacesGitHub, GitLabGitHub, GitLab

Why pick each one

Choose Forgejo if…

  • Strong community governance
  • Lightweight and fast
  • Active development
Forgejo details

Choose Gitea if…

  • Very lightweight
  • Easy to deploy
  • Familiar GitHub-like UI
Gitea details

Frequently asked questions

Is Forgejo or Gitea better?

Neither is universally better. Gitea has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Forgejo and Gitea free and open-source?

Yes. Forgejo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Gitea under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Forgejo and Gitea with Docker?

Forgejo: yes. Gitea: yes.

Related comparisons