Forgejo vs Pagure
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted git hosting & forges options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Forgejo
Community-driven self-hosted software forge
VS
Pagure
Git-centered forge built by and for the Fedora community
| Feature | Forgejo | Pagure |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Git Hosting & Forges | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,000 | ★ 900 |
| First released | 2022 | 2015 |
| Replaces | GitHub, GitLab | GitHub, GitLab |
What are Forgejo and Pagure?
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
Pagure
Pagure is a self-hosted Git forge with issue tracking, pull requests, and documentation hosting. Notably, project metadata such as issues is itself stored in Git repositories.
- Issues stored in Git
- Pull request workflow
- Documentation hosting
- Fedora community maintained
Forgejo vs Pagure: key differences
Forgejo is written in Go, while Pagure is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Forgejo versus GPL-2.0 for Pagure. Forgejo is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Pagure. Pagure is the more established project (first released 2015), while Forgejo arrived in 2022. Forgejo has the considerably larger community, at 5,000 GitHub stars versus 900. Forgejo lists first-class Docker deployment; Pagure does not.
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
Frequently asked questions
Is Forgejo or Pagure better?
Forgejo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Pagure if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Forgejo and Pagure free and open-source?
Yes. Forgejo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Pagure under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Forgejo and Pagure with Docker?
Forgejo: yes. Pagure: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Forgejo or Pagure?
Forgejo has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Pagure. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.