Updated August 2026
    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    6.1k

    Cosmos: Maintenance, Licence and Alternatives

    Run server applications securely and with built-in privacy features. It acts as a secure gateway to your application, as well as a server manager.

    TL;DR • Cosmos • as of August 2026

    Cosmos is an open-source self-hosting solutions project, with 6.1k GitHub stars and a health score of 78/100. It committed 142 times in the last twelve months across 11 of those months, and its status is actively maintained. Licence: Apache-2.0, Commons-Clause. It has real momentum, so treat it as a live competitor rather than a stale repository.

    6.1k
    GitHub stars
    78/100
    Health score
    142
    Commits (12 mo)
    11/12
    Active months

    Maintenance health

    Status Actively maintained — Committed within the last 45 days.
    Last commit 2026-08-14
    Days since last commit 3
    Commits, last 3 months 18
    Commits, last 12 months 142
    Months with activity 11 of 12
    Last release 2026-08-14
    Archived No
    Licence Apache-2.0, Commons-Clause
    Category Self-hosting Solutions

    Health score combines commit recency, twelve-month commit volume, months with activity, release recency and archive state. Metadata refreshed August 2026.

    What the licence lets you do

    Apache-2.0, Commons-Clause

    Source-available (BSL, SSPL, Commons Clause): readable but not open source. Commercial use is usually restricted — read the licence before building on it.

    This matters most when you plan to sell a hosted version. A permissive licence means anyone — including a competitor with more capital — can do the same, so your defensibility has to come from distribution, support or data, not from the code.

    What Cosmos means for your idea

    Cosmos is shipping code consistently, so a buyer comparing your product will find a maintained free option. Price and position against the total cost of self-hosting it, not against the paid incumbent's list price.

    The clearest opening in the dataset. Low open-source competition usually means either a genuinely underserved need or a market too small to attract volunteers — validate demand before assuming the former.

    Cosmos: common questions

    Is Cosmos still maintained in 2026?

    Actively maintained. Cosmos recorded 142 commits over the last twelve months, with activity in 11 of those months and 18 commits in the last quarter. Last commit: 2026-08-14. Last release: 2026-08-14. Committed within the last 45 days.

    Can I use Cosmos commercially?

    Cosmos is published under Apache-2.0, Commons-Clause. Source-available (BSL, SSPL, Commons Clause): readable but not open source. Commercial use is usually restricted — read the licence before building on it.

    How crowded is the Self-hosting Solutions category?

    27 open-source implementations, 8 of them actively maintained, led by Umbrel at 12k stars. Saturation score 37/100 — Open. Thin or poorly maintained open-source coverage.

    Cosmos alternatives in Self-hosting Solutions

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    DietPi

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    Minimal Debian OS optimized for single-board computers, which allows you to easily install and manage several services for selfhosting at home.

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    NextCloudPi

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    Nextcloud preinstalled and preconfigured, with a text and web management interface and all the tools needed to self host private data. With installation images for Raspberry Pi, Odroid, Rock64, Docker

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    Competing with free? Check the market first.

    IdeaProof scores your idea against live competitors, market size and 1,000+ documented startup failures in about two minutes.