Fossil vs SourceHut
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Fossil
Distributed version control with built-in wiki and bug tracking
VS
SourceHut
The hacker's forge, 100% free and open source
| Feature | Fossil | SourceHut |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools & Git | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 600 | ★ 2,000 |
| First released | 2006 | 2018 |
| Replaces | GitHub, Git | GitHub, GitLab |
Why pick each one
Choose Fossil if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose SourceHut if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Fossil or SourceHut better?
Neither is universally better. SourceHut has the larger community, while Fossil is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Fossil and SourceHut free and open-source?
Yes. Fossil is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and SourceHut under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fossil and SourceHut with Docker?
Fossil: check the project docs for container support. SourceHut: check the project docs for container support.