Gitea Mirror 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.
SourceHut
The hacker's forge, 100% free and open source
| Feature | Gitea Mirror | SourceHut |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Git Hosting & Forges | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,452 | ★ 2,000 |
| First released | 2024 | 2018 |
| Replaces | GitHub | GitHub, GitLab |
What are Gitea Mirror and SourceHut?
Gitea Mirror
Gitea Mirror Manager is a tool that automatically discovers and mirrors GitHub repositories and organizations into a self-hosted Gitea instance. It keeps local copies up to date on a schedule.
- Automatic GitHub mirroring
- Organization discovery
- Scheduled sync
- Web dashboard
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
Gitea Mirror vs SourceHut: key differences
Gitea Mirror is written in TypeScript, while SourceHut is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for Gitea Mirror versus AGPL-3.0 for SourceHut. Gitea Mirror 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 Gitea Mirror arrived in 2024. Gitea Mirror lists first-class Docker deployment; SourceHut does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Gitea Mirror if…
- Keeps offline backups
- Simple configuration
Watch out for
- One-way mirroring
- Requires Gitea
Choose SourceHut if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Gitea Mirror or SourceHut better?
Neither is universally better. SourceHut has the larger community, while Gitea Mirror is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Gitea Mirror and SourceHut free and open-source?
Yes. Gitea Mirror is licensed under MIT and SourceHut under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gitea Mirror and SourceHut with Docker?
Gitea Mirror: yes. SourceHut: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Gitea Mirror or SourceHut?
Gitea Mirror 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.