Compare software

Fossil vs Sapling: catalog facts
Fossil	Sapling
Free Free and open source under the BSD 2-clause licence.	Free Free to download and use.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted, Command line	Command line
Single executable with nothing else to install Wiki, tickets, forum and chat built in	Works with Git repositories and GitHub Stacked commits for code review
Far smaller ecosystem and hosting options than Git Different workflow conventions to learn for Git users	Different commands and concepts from standard Git Research gives few details on supported platforms
Downloadable app, Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Open source	Closed source
License: BSD-2-Clause	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.