Forgejo vs Gogs
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted git hosting & forges options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Forgejo | Gogs |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Git Hosting & Forges | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,000 | ★ 47,824 |
| First released | 2022 | 2014 |
| Replaces | GitHub, GitLab | GitHub, Bitbucket |
What are Forgejo and Gogs?
Forgejo
Forgejo is a community-governed fork of Gitea providing a self-hosted Git forge with issues, pull requests, and CI. It targets developers wanting a fully community-controlled code platform. It is deployed via Docker or a single binary.
- Community-governed Gitea fork
- Forgejo Actions CI
- Federation in development
- Lightweight single binary
Gogs
Gogs is a lightweight, easy-to-install Git hosting service written in Go. It runs on minimal hardware including a Raspberry Pi and ships as a single binary.
- Single binary deployment
- Runs on low-power hardware
- Built-in issue tracker
- Webhook support
Forgejo vs Gogs: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Forgejo versus MIT for Gogs. Gogs is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Forgejo. Gogs is the more established project (first released 2014), while Forgejo arrived in 2022. Gogs has the considerably larger community, at 47,824 GitHub stars versus 5,000.
Why pick each one
Choose Forgejo if…
- Strong community governance
- Lightweight and fast
- Active development
Watch out for
- Smaller ecosystem than Gitea
- Federation still maturing
Choose Gogs if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Simple to install
Watch out for
- Slower feature development than forks
Frequently asked questions
Is Forgejo or Gogs better?
Neither is universally better. Gogs has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Forgejo and Gogs free and open-source?
Yes. Forgejo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Gogs under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Forgejo and Gogs with Docker?
Forgejo: yes. Gogs: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Forgejo or Gogs?
Gogs has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Forgejo. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.