About us

Choosing between twenty projects that all claim to replace the same paid app takes hours, and most of it is spent digging the same facts out of twenty READMEs. Start here instead.

What gets listed

Anything you can run on your own hardware and keep running without a vendor's permission. Source-available and proprietary-core projects are listed too, with the licence stated plainly – you can filter them out, but you should know they exist.

Our picks

An Our pick tab on the right edge of an app card marks our pick: the one we'd reach for first in its category. It's a judgement call from using these apps, not a ranking of the rest – the others are listed because they're the better fit for someone.

How entries are written

Every app page states the same facts in the same order – licence, cost, install options, database, containers, minimum RAM – so two projects can be read side by side. Specs come from each project's own documentation and releases; where a number is a project's stated minimum rather than a measurement, it says so.

Independence and corrections

We are not affiliated with any software or hardware vendor listed. Some hardware and hosting links are affiliate links, which earn a commission at no cost to you. We may also offer sponsored listings in future; any that appear will be clearly labelled. Neither affiliate links nor sponsorship change which apps are listed or how their specs are described. If a spec, price or link is wrong, send it through the contact form and we will check it against the project's documentation.