gopass vs pass-otp
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted password managers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | gopass | pass-otp |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 28 · At risk |
| Category | Password Managers | Password Managers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,220 | ★ 1,498 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | 1Password, LastPass | Authy, 1Password |
What are gopass and pass-otp?
gopass
gopass is a feature-rich command-line password manager written in Go that is compatible with the standard Unix password store. It adds team features, multiple stores and improved tooling.
- pass-compatible encrypted store
- Multiple mounted stores
- Team and per-secret access control
- Browser and editor integrations
pass-otp
pass-otp is an open-source extension that adds TOTP one-time-password support to the standard Unix password manager. It generates two-factor codes directly from secrets stored in the pass tree.
- TOTP code generation
- Integrates with pass
- Offline two-factor
- Command-line based
gopass vs pass-otp: key differences
Gopass is written in Go, while pass-otp is built with Shell. Licensing differs — MIT for gopass versus GPL-3.0 for pass-otp. Gopass has the considerably larger community, at 7,220 GitHub stars versus 1,498.
Why pick each one
Choose gopass if…
- Great for teams using git
- Single static binary
Watch out for
- Still command-line focused
Choose pass-otp if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Shell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is gopass or pass-otp better?
Neither is universally better. gopass has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are gopass and pass-otp free and open-source?
Yes. gopass is licensed under MIT and pass-otp under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run gopass and pass-otp with Docker?
gopass: check the project docs for container support. pass-otp: check the project docs for container support.