Comparison of Free/Open Source Project Hosting (FOSPHost) Sites Available for Hosting Projects Externally from Project Owners

The data on this site was not updated since early 2004 and many new sites appeared since. Make sure you check the Wikipedia entry 'Comparison of free software hosting facilities' for updated info.

Disclaimer: All the data from this table was obtained from Freely/Openly/Publicly available sources (e.g. browsing the sites, reading the source code). None of the data was received by the author on a confidential basis.
General Information
  Asynchrony  BerliOS  freepository  GBorg  GForge 2  icculus.org  Savannah   SEUL  SourceForge  SunSITE.dk 
Brief Description   Host both Open and Closed Source, sell mature projects for money  Free Service for Open Source Developers, Part of Initative to mediate between Developers, Users and Commercial Bodies  Freepository provides secure, no-nonsense CVS hosting  A specific site for Postgresql related projects  An Open Source collaborative software development tool, which allows you to organize and manage any number of software development projects  Small, elitist community focus mainly on Games  Central point for development of GNU Software  Simple End-User Linux - To have a comprehensive suite of high-quality applications available for the Linux platform  Largest and most well known, The standard, Extensive tools  Customized hosting for demanding projects 
Organisation   Asynchrony.com Inc.  Berlios Team - employees from FOKUS  Run by John Minnihan  Run by the GBorg development team  Run by a team headed by former SourceForge leader Tim Perdue  Run by Ryan Gordon, former Loki employee  Free Software Foundation  "Simple End-User Linux" Volunteer Group  VA Software Corporation  Run entirely by volunteers, entirely sponsor-supported by Sun Microsystems, Inc., Aalborg University, and others 
Type (More... Infrastructure (More... Infrastructure (More... Infrastructure (More... Infrastructure (More... Infrastructure (More... Non-infrastructure (More... Infrastructure (More... Non-infrastructure (More... Infrastructure (More... Non-infrastructure (More...
No. of Projects, excluding projects mirrorred (Regardless of activities) (Possible relationship with different type of sites 1,848 (23 Sep 03 16:30 +10)  818 (23 Sep 03 13:00 +10)  over 2,500 (22 Sep 03 23:00 +10)  123 (8 Aug 03 23:00 +10)  Irrelevant in this Comparison  61 (19 Mar 03 17:30 +10)  1,886 (23 Sep 03 13:00 +10)  About 50 ACTIVE projects (23 Sep 03 17:30 +10)  68,586 (23 Sep 03 13:00 +10)  111 (23 Sep 03 19:30 +10) 
No. of Members (Regardless of activities)  33,309 (23 Sep 03 16:30 +10)  4,583 (23 Sep 03 13:00 +10)  2,948 (22 Sep 03 23:00 +10)  3,012 (8 Aug 03 23:00 +10)  Irrelevant in this Comparison  111 Shell Accounts + more developers (19 Mar 03 17:30 +10)  20,575 (23 Sep 03 13:00 +10)  About 300 with shell access, about 225 with CVS read/write access (23 Sep 03 17:30 +10)  703,365 (23 Sep 03 13:00 +10)  205 CVS access, exact number of members not available (23 Sep 03 19:30 +10) 
Input from site administrator(s) to this table  No  No  Yes  Yes  Yes  Yes  No  Yes  No  Yes 
Project Tools - Tools for Public/Developers
  Asynchrony  BerliOS  freepository  GBorg  GForge 2  icculus.org  Savannah   SEUL  SourceForge  SunSITE.dk 
Standardized Format for General Information   Yes  Yes  No General Information  Yes  Yes  No  Yes  No  Yes  No 
Free Format HTML Project Pages  Yes  Yes  No  No  Yes  Yes  Yes  Yes  Yes  Yes 
Project Role Assignment  Yes  Yes  Four member types based on permissions to CVS: Admin, Basic, Read-Only, Disabled  Yes  Yes  No (See 'Policies')  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1 
Project News   Yes  Yes  No  Yes  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1 
Download Service   HTTP  File Release, FTP  HTTPS  FTP  File Release  HTTP  FTP  HTTP, FTP  File Release  FTP, rysnc 
Document Management   DIY 1  DocManager  No  FAQ, genpage (Free format HTML only pages management)  DocManager  DIY 1  FAQ  DIY 1  DocManager  DIY 1 
Statistics   Number of beta download, number of versions produced  Project activity, net traffic, comparative stat.  Unknown  No  Project activity, net traffic, comparative stat.  Unknown  Unknown  Comparative statistics via Webalizer at http://stats.seul.org/ (Apache and CVS log available for admin)  Project activity, net traffic, comparative stat.  net traffic only 
Source Code Repository (More... CVS Server  Subversion, CVS Server and ViewCVS  CVS Server, CVSWeb, Eclipse plugin and Web-based CVS management tool (login, add/update/delete directories/files, member management)  CVS Server and ViewCVS  CVS Server and CVS Web Interface (ViewCVS, Ronald Petty's php CVS and Dracos Moinescu's php OO CVS)  CVS Server and ViewCVS  CVS Server and ViewCVS  CVS Server with ViewCVS and CVSweb  CVS Server and ViewCVS  CVS Server and ViewCVS 
Mailing List (More... Yes  Mailman  No  Mailman  Mailman  Ezmlm-idx  Mailman  Majordomo + MHonArc  Mailman  Ezmlm, Mail Filtering 
Tracker (More... Project Change Request / Task  Bug / Support / Patch / Task  No  Bug / Feature / Task  Tracker made by Gforge, theme can be defined by user  Bugzilla  Bug / Support / Patch / Task  Jitterbug and DIY 1  Bug / Support / Patch / Feature / Task / Task Dependency  DIY 1 
IRC   via a Java client interface on site  No  No  No  No  #icculus.org on irc.freenode.net  No  IRC server at irc.seul.org  No  Server provided SunSITE.dk:6667 and irc.ircnet.dk:6667 
Forum   Yes  Yes  No  No  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1 
Wiki   Unknown  Yes  No  No  DIY 1  DIY 1  No  DIY 1  DIY 1  DIY 1 
Survey  Ratings on pre-defined attributes of a project  Yes  No  No  Yes  DIY 1  Unknown  DIY 1  DIY 1  DIY 1 
Other Tools     Screenshots    Patch Management / Errata  Task Manager & Gantt Chart          Usenet 
Project Tools - Tools for Project Administrators
  Asynchrony  BerliOS  freepository  GBorg  GForge 2  icculus.org  Savannah   SEUL  SourceForge  SunSITE.dk 
Management for 'Tools for Public/Developers'  Yes  Yes  No  Yes  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1 
Ask for Help (Recruitment)   Yes  Yes  No  Invite others to join by enabling the 'join now' function at the project page or advertises it in public areas  Yes  Invite others to join by advertising at the project page or in public areas  Yes  Invite others to join by advertising at the project page or in public areas  Yes  DIY 1 
Activity History   Unknown  Yes  No  No  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  DIY 1 
Web Server-Side Scripts   Unknown  PHP3  No  No  Depends on the availability of individual sites  PHP  No  SSI, PHP3 and 4, CGI, Embperl  PHP3 and 4  SSI, PHP, JSP, other CGI on approval 
Database  Unknown  MySQL  No  No  Yes  MySQL on request  No  MySQL and PostgreSQL  MySQL  MySQL 
Shell   Unknown  Yes  No  No  Yes  Available to team leaders  only some people had it  Available to selected developers  Yes  Available to selected developers 
Compile Farm   No  No  No  No  Depends on the availability of individual sites  No  No  No  Yes  No 
Export  Unknown  CVS Nightly tarball, Forums, Bugs Tracker, Support Tracker and Patches Tracker  Members can auto-tar up their projects and download them on the fly. These tarballs may be source code only, or the whole CVS repository (,v files)  CVS export on request to the administrator  CVS Nightly tarball, Project Summary, Project News, Forums, Bugs Tracker  Unknown  CVS Nightly tarball, Forums  Unknown  CVS Nightly tarball, Trackers, Project Summary, Project News, Document Manager  On request to administrator 
Virtual Hosting  host name at projectname .asynchrony-projects .com  Yes  No  No  Yes  Yes  No  Yes  Yes  host name at projectname .sunsite .dk with email 
Uploading  FTP  SCP  CVS via SSL  HTTP Form, FTP to an incoming directory and move file(s) via web management  HTTPS Form  SCP  CVS via SSH  SCP, SFTP and rsync  SCP, SFTP, FTP to an incoming directory and move file(s) via web management (SSL)  FTP and rsync 
Security (More... SSH, SSL  SSH (1 & 2), SSL on web  100% SSL    Depends on the policy of individual sites  SSH, SSL  SSH1, SSL on web  SSH (1 & 2)  SSH (1 & 2), SSL on web   
Backup   Unknown policy  Unknown policy  Unknown policy  No explicit policy  Depends on the policy of individual sites  Backup daily with one week archive  Unknown policy  No formal policy, users would do backup themselves  Explicit backup policy (5 types of data, daily)  Daily 
Personal Tools for Developers
  Asynchrony  BerliOS  freepository  GBorg  GForge 2  icculus.org  Savannah   SEUL  SourceForge  SunSITE.dk 
Web Space to Host Personal Information  No  No  No  No  No  Yes  No  No  No  No 
Skill and Experience   Yes  Yes  No  Yes  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  No  Yes  No 
Tracker/Forum/File Monitoring  Unknown  Yes  No  Tracker only  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  No  Yes  No 
Projects Involved   Yes  Yes  No  Yes  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  No  Yes  No 
Assigned/Submitted Issues from Trackers  Unknown  Yes  No  No, but could sent notification via monitoring system  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  No  Yes  No 
Survey  No  Yes  No  No  Yes  DIY 1  No  No  No  No 
Webmail  Redirect  Redirect  No  No  Redirect  Yes  Redirect  DIY 1  Redirect  DIY 1 
Diary   No  Yes  No  No  Yes  DIY 1  No  No  Yes  No 
Bookmark   No  Yes  No  No  Yes  DIY 1  Yes  No  Yes  No 
Money Earned   Yes  No  No  No  No  DIY 1  No  No  No  No 
Rating  Yes  Yes  No  No  Yes  No  Unknown  No  No  No 
Community Tools
  Asynchrony  BerliOS  freepository  GBorg  GForge 2  icculus.org  Savannah   SEUL  SourceForge  SunSITE.dk 
Access   Only for registered members  Public  Public  Public  Public  Public  Public  Public  Public  Public 
Search Project   Type / Status / Keywords / Various Dates with sorting preferences  Keywords  No  No  Keywords  No  Keywords  No  Keywords  No 
Project Listing at Front Page   New / Top / Need Beta Testers / Completed  Top download / Most active / Newest  No  Top / Latest / Category List  Most Active / Top Download  Projects listed by the requests of the leaders of the project  Newest GNU / non-GNU / www.gnu.org projects  A drop down menu for all projects  Most Active / Top Download  No Listing at front page, but a link to listing 
Classification   Keywords  Topics  No  Topics  Topics  Just a single list of projects  GNU and non-GNU  Topics  Topics  Just a single list of projects 
Search People  Name / Skill / Rating  Keywords  No  No  Name / Skill (by keywords)  No  Keywords  No  Keywords  No 
Project Help Wanted  Search interface available  Yes  No  No  Yes (Project Openings)  No  Yes (Front page)  No  Yes  No 
Latest News  On site changes and company businesses  On new releases  No  On new releases  Depends on the editor  On new releases  On new releases  News in "Real World" on Linux  On new releases  On server status and important projects news 
Get Support  Chat with support via a Java client interface on site  Submit request to a tracker, email to staff  User forum, bugzilla  Email admin  Depends on the policy of individual sites  Email admin  Submit request to a tracker  Email admin  Submit request to a tracker  Email admin, IRC with staff 
Other Features         Advertisements from customers, sponsors and also from Free/Open Source projects (for free)        Linux Advocacy  Advertisements bar from customers   
  General Discussion Area (System / Technical / Projects)              Mailing Lists for Topical Discussion     
                    Opinion Polls 
  SkillDrill (External company for skill certification)                   
            List of Personal web sites         
            List of virtually hosted web sites         
            List of credits for donation & call for donation         
Others
  Asynchrony  BerliOS  freepository  GBorg  GForge 2  icculus.org  Savannah   SEUL  SourceForge  SunSITE.dk 
Software for Web Interface of FOSPHost   Developed by Asynchrony  BerliOS (probably based on SourceForge v1.5)  freepository  GBorg  GForge (based on SourceForge v2.61pre4)  Just a few HTML pages  Savannah (based on SourceForge v2.0)  Just a few HTML pages  SourceForge  Drupal  
License of Web Interface   Proprietary  GPL  GPL  Great Bridge Open Source License  GPL  Probably no need for a license  GPL  Probably no need for a license  GPL (but download files not found and no CVS)  GPL 
Development Methodology   Closed Source  Free/Open Source, Self-Hosted on site  Free/Open Source, Self-Hosted on site  Free/Open Source, Self-Hosted on site  Free/Open Source, Hosted at http://gforge.org  Probably no need for a "Methodology"  Free/Open Source, Self-Hosted on site  Probably no need for a "Methodology"  Closed Source  Free/Open Source 
License Requirement for Project Hosted  Both Proprietary and Open Source  Free/Open Source Projects  No restriction  OSI Licenses  Policies can vary for different sites  Free/Open Source projects  GPL compatible licenses  Free/Open Source Projects, Exceptions permitted, see Manifesto  Free/Open Source Projects  Free/Open Source Projects 
Copyright  Asynchrony owns the code    Users own the code, not the site  The developers owns the code but the site can keep hosting them even if closed later      Free Software / Rights to code (of users)    Data Preservation - contributors own the code but it will cannot be deleted from the site   
Advertisement        No Commercial ads and/or banners      No revenue-generating Advertisements      No Commercial ads and/or banners 
Legal and Language Related    Some documentations and interfaces had European language translations other than English          No dependencies to non Free Software, no GIF files      Satisfy Danish law, content in English or Danish 
Flexibility (Possible relationship with different type of sites           Flexible and informal to meet the need of individual developers, no restrictive infrastructure such as 'Role Management', elitist & selective on projects to form a smaller community where individual needs can be cared for        Willing to adapt to individual needs, policy negotiable, tools negotiable 
Donation      Donation encouraged      Most donations go to developers' needs (e.g. new video card, motherboard)        Welcome more volunteers to help run the site 
Miscellaneous                    SunSITE.dk URL must be visible when re-directed from other sites 
Additional Services from sites in the same organisation     Other services that assist Open Source Business development such as SourceAgency and DevCounter    Other information on PostgreSQL      Free Software related topics and philosophies    Part of OSDN (Open Source Development Network) with Slashdot, NewsForge, etc   

Modify This Table

Items to Compare
Asynchrony
BerliOS
freepository
GBorg
GForge
icculus.org
Savannah
SEUL
SourceForge
SunSITE.dk
   Feature Groups
General Information
Project Tools - Tools for Public/Developers
Project Tools - Tools for Project Administrators
Personal Tools for Developers
Community Tools
Others
Note:
  1. DIY stands for 'Doing It Yourself'. A number of hosts allow users to run CGI scripts and access databases. Therefore, some services (e.g Wiki) that are not immediately available can be setup by the users themselves.
  2. www.gforge.org actually only hosts one project - GForge itself (so please do not go there and ask for hosting). Nevertheless, a good number of FOSPHost sites are employing GForge at the moment (see List of GForge sites). Therefore, by comparing 'GForge' with other sites, the comparison can roughly cover the sites that employ GForge (Each individual site has the choice of enabling/providing each of the service/functionality listed above, but it should be safe to assume most of the service/functionality enabled/provided will be similar.) The number of members and projects on www.gforge.org are thus irrelevant as they carry a different meaning comparing to other sites.
Criteria for candidate selection:
  1. Available to host new projects (so WebFrame is not included).
  2. I can only read English and Chinese so site such as TuxFamily.org cannot be evaluated. Sorry.
Technically, GForge violate rule no. 1, as it is not available for new projects. Nonetheless, as explained above, 'GForge' actually represents the sites that employ GForge (see List of GForge sites) and a number of these sites do accept new projects. Therefore, it is included in this comparison.
A number of possible candidates (e.g. ibiblio and Tigris.org) did not respond to the invitations to be compared on this table and thus they are not included. The next possible candidate may be Novell Forge, but it will take some time.

Credits: The data on this site was not updated since early 2004 and many new sites appeared since. Make sure you check the Wikipedia entry 'Comparison of free software hosting facilities' for updated info.

This comparison is done by Haggen So and the data of the comparison is released into the public domain. The PHP scripts that drive the site is shared under GPL.

Bullet Evaluate sites based on criteria defined by you

Back Arrow Go Back to Evaluation of FOSPHost Sites

Back Arrow Go Back to the First Page of the Site

Generated: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:41:55 -0400, v0.06
hosting and backup by ibiblio.org!