Forgejo vs Gitea: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to GitHub. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| Forgejo | Gitea | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Dev Tools | Dev Tools |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later | MIT |
| GitHub stars | ~6k | ~46k |
| Tech stack | Go, SQLite/PostgreSQL | Go, PostgreSQL |
| Replaces | GitHub, GitLab | GitHub |
Gitea has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
Forgejo
Gitea's community fork, a lightweight Git forge with 100% open governance.
Pros
- An alternative to Gitea for those who prefer a project with no corporate backing
Things to consider
- Smaller community and plugin ecosystem than GitLab
- Recently moved from MIT to GPL-3.0+ (August 2024): check the implications if you distribute a modified version
Gitea
Lightweight Git platform, a self-hosted alternative to GitHub.
Pros
- Runs perfectly on a 1GB RAM VPS
Things to consider
- Smaller integration ecosystem than GitHub
Key features
Forgejo
- Forgejo Actions, compatible with GitHub Actions syntax
- Very lightweight, a single binary
- 100% community governance, no company behind it
Gitea
- Built-in issues, PRs and wiki
- Gitea Actions compatible with GitHub Actions
- Very low resource usage
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