Forgejo vs SourceHut
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
SourceHut
The hacker's forge, 100% free and open source
| Feature | Forgejo | SourceHut |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Git Hosting & Forges | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| 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 | ★ 2,000 |
| First released | 2022 | 2018 |
| Replaces | GitHub, GitLab | GitHub, GitLab |
What are Forgejo and SourceHut?
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
SourceHut
SourceHut is a software development suite consisting of Git/Mercurial hosting, mailing lists, CI, bug tracking, and more. It is designed to be lightweight, JavaScript-free, and email-driven.
- Email-driven workflow
- No JavaScript required
- Git and Mercurial support
- Integrated CI builds
Forgejo vs SourceHut: key differences
Forgejo is written in Go, while SourceHut is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Forgejo versus AGPL-3.0 for SourceHut. Forgejo is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for SourceHut. SourceHut is the more established project (first released 2018), while Forgejo arrived in 2022. Forgejo has the considerably larger community, at 5,000 GitHub stars versus 2,000. Forgejo lists first-class Docker deployment; SourceHut 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
Choose SourceHut if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Forgejo or SourceHut better?
Forgejo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider SourceHut if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Forgejo and SourceHut free and open-source?
Yes. Forgejo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SourceHut under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Forgejo and SourceHut with Docker?
Forgejo: yes. SourceHut: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Forgejo or SourceHut?
Forgejo has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for SourceHut. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.