Radicle
Open-source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git, with no central server.
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About Radicle
Radicle is a decentralised alternative to platforms like GitHub. Instead of pushing to a central host, repositories are replicated between peers and seed nodes over a peer-to-peer gossip protocol, and each user has a cryptographic identity, so there is no account to create and no company that can lock you out. Issues and patches, Radicle's equivalent of pull requests, are stored as Git objects inside the repository, which means collaboration data travels with the code and works offline. You use it through the rad command-line tool, a local node and a web interface for browsing; CI is possible through community-built integrations. The current protocol generation is called Heartwood. The project is young and the workflow differs from what most developers know, and discovery and community are small compared with centralised forges. It is free software under MIT and Apache 2.0 licences, and runs on Linux and macOS.
Best for: Developers who want sovereign, decentralised code collaboration without a central platform.
Pros and cons
What works
- No central host or account needed
- Issues and patches stored with the code in Git
- Free and open source
Why people leave
- Unfamiliar workflow for most developers
- Small community and project discovery
- Tooling is mainly command-line
Top Radicle alternatives
See all 5- 1
Codeberg66.5Community-run hosting that keeps a familiar web workflow.
- 2
Forgejo62.6Self-host a conventional forge you fully control.
- 3
SourceHut59.6Minimal, email-based collaboration without heavy platforms.
- 4
GitHub57.2Centralised but with the biggest audience for your project.
- 5
Gitea55.3Easy self-hosted forge with pull requests and CI.
Why people left Radicle
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Radicle: common questions
Is Radicle free?
Yes, Radicle is free to use.
Is Radicle open source?
Yes. You can also run it on your own server.
What platforms does Radicle run on?
Radicle is available for Linux, macOS and Self-hosted.
What are the best alternatives to Radicle?
The highest-ranked Radicle alternatives right now are Codeberg, Forgejo and SourceHut. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.