Puter vs Thumbor

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?
FeaturePuterThumbor
CategoryFile Sync & StoragePhoto Management
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker
GitHub stars★ 43,003★ 10,510
First released20262025
Replaces

Why pick each one

Choose Puter if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 43k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Puter details

Choose Thumbor if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 10.5k GitHub stars
  • Written in Python
Thumbor details

Frequently asked questions

Is Puter or Thumbor better?

Neither is universally better. Puter has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Puter and Thumbor free and open-source?

Yes. Puter is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Thumbor under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Puter and Thumbor with Docker?

Puter: yes. Thumbor: yes.

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