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Open source alternatives to GitHub

We track 7 open-source GitHub alternatives, of which 5 currently score 70 or above on Repoly's GitHub health scale and 5 ship a Docker image. Gitea leads on health at 99/100 with 593 commits in the last 90 days; across all 7 projects you are choosing between Apache-2.0, GPL-2.0, MIT.

updated Oct 2026 7 alternatives best health 99 ★ 144k combined 1,713 commits / 90d 5 with Docker

Top picks to replace GitHub

  • Healthiest

    Gitea

    Health 99/100: 593 commits in 90 days, latest release v28.2.0, Docker image available.

Licence family

Showing 7 of 7 tools

All 7 GitHub alternatives, ranked by health

  • Top pick · highest health

    Gitea

    Git with a cup of tea! Painless self-hosted all-in-one software development service, including Git hosting, code review, team collaboration, package registry and CI/CD.

    ★ 59k⟳ todayv28.2.0MIT

    DockerGoK8S
    Website ↗ Source ↗

  • OneDev

    All-In-One DevOps Platform. With Git Management, Issue Tracking, and CI/CD. Simple yet Powerful.

    ★ 15k⟳ todayv17.0.2MIT

    DockerJavaK8S
    Website ↗ Source ↗

  • GitLab

    Self Hosted Git repository management, code reviews, issue tracking, activity feeds and wikis.

    ★ 7.2k⟳ todayv18.11.0MIT

    DockerRubydeb
    Website ↗ Source ↗

  • Forgejo

    A lightweight software forge focused on scaling, federation, and privacy (fork of Gitea).

    ★ 5.7k⟳ 2 days agov17.0.1MIT

    DockerGo
    Website ↗ Source ↗

  • gitbucket

    Git platform powered with easy installation, high extensibility & GitHub API compatibility (alternative to GitHub).

    ★ 9.4k⟳ yesterday4.48.0Apache-2.0

    ScalaJava
    Website ↗ Source ↗

  • Pagure

    Lightweight, powerful, and flexible git-centric forge with features laying the foundation for federated and decentralized development.

    GPL-2.0

    DockerPythondeb
    Website ↗ Source ↗

GitHub alternatives compared

Gitea edges OneDev 99 to 97, and most of the difference is stars: 59k stars against 15k stars.

The most recent release is OneDev v17.0.2, published today. None of the measured options scores under 40. By stack, Go (3), Java (2) and Python (1) are the most common. Gitea, OneDev, GitLab and 3 more are permissively licensed; Pagure is copyleft. Pagure is not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so it has no measured score yet.

5 of these 7 also appear among the Atlassian Bitbucket alternatives; gitbucket and Pagure are specific to GitHub.

Open source alternatives to GitHub by health, stars, licence and last commit
Tool Health Stars Licence Last commit Docker
Gitea Health 99 on 11 Sep, 99 nowSteady at 99 since 11 Sep 99 59k MIT today Yes
OneDev Health 97 on 11 Sep, 97 nowSteady at 97 since 11 Sep 97 15k MIT today Yes
GitLab Health 60 on 11 Sep, 95 nowUp 35 points since 11 Sep, no release for 6 months 95 7.2k MIT today Yes
Forgejo Health 95 on 27 Sep, 95 nowSteady at 95 since 27 Sep 95 5.7k MIT 2 days ago Yes
gitbucket Health 86 on 11 Sep, 86 nowSteady at 86 since 11 Sep 86 9.4k Apache-2.0 yesterday No
Gogs 64 48k MIT 2 days ago No
Pagure 20 0 GPL-2.0 unknown Yes

GitHub alternatives: common questions

What is the most maintained open source alternative to GitHub?

Gitea scores highest at 99/100, with 593 commits in the last 90 days, 59k stars on GitHub and its latest release (v28.2.0) published 12 days ago. It is also the most active by raw commit count.

Which GitHub alternatives use a permissive licence?

6 of 7 are permissively licensed (MIT, Apache, BSD or similar): Gitea (MIT), OneDev (MIT), GitLab (MIT), Forgejo (MIT), gitbucket (Apache-2.0), Gogs (MIT). 1 use copyleft licences such as GPL or AGPL, which require you to publish changes if you distribute a modified version.

Which GitHub alternatives run in Docker?

5 of 7 publish a Docker image or Compose file: Gitea, OneDev, GitLab, Forgejo, Pagure. Docker support contributes 10 of the 100 available health points, because it is the clearest signal that self-hosting is a supported path rather than an afterthought.

Is Gitea or OneDev the better GitHub alternative?

On measured health Gitea leads, 99 to 97. Gitea has 593 commits in 90 days, 59k stars and v28.2.0 from 12 days ago; OneDev has 475 commits in 90 days, 15k stars and v17.0.2 from today. Gitea is ahead or level on every term Repoly measures.

Are the GitHub alternatives still maintained?

5 of the 6 measured options score 70 or above. Every measured option had commits in the last 90 days. None scores under 40.

What languages are the GitHub alternatives written in?

Go: Gitea, Forgejo and Gogs. Java: OneDev and gitbucket. Python: Pagure. The stack matters if you plan to extend or patch the tool yourself.