Comparison

Fossil vs Sapling

On the evidence we track, Sapling leads this comparison with a composite score of 50/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Fossil9
Sapling50
Score
Vioscale score
Fossil9 / 100low · 4%
Sapling50 / 100low · 46%
Pricing
Free tier
Fossil
Sapling
Model
Price level
Fossilfree
Saplingfree
Transparent
Fossil
Sapling
Integrations
Count
Fossil1
Sapling1
Reliability
Status page
Fossil
Sapling
Adoption
Dependent repos
Fossil
Sapling7
Github stars
Fossil
Sapling6,993
Activity
Commits last 30d
Fossil
Sapling100
Release
Cadence days
Fossil
Sapling34
History
Fossil
Sapling20 items
License
Spdx
Fossil
SaplingGPL-2.0
Language
Primary
Fossil
SaplingRust

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for version control. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Model
VCS model
FossilDistributed
SaplingDistributed
Underlying VCS supported (Git / Mercurial / SVN / Perforce / multiple)
Fossil-
SaplingGit
Deployment
Hosting
FossilSelf-hosted only
SaplingSelf-hosted only
Review
Code review
Fossil-
SaplingPR / MR
Storage
Large-file / binary handling
Fossil-
Sapling-
Scale
Monorepo scale (partial clone / sparse / VFS)
Fossil-
Sapling-
DevOps
Built-in CI
Fossil-
Sapling-
Access
Access control granularity
Fossil-
Sapling-
Federation
Federation / decentralisation (ActivityPub / email)
Fossil-
Sapling-
Licensing
Open-source core
FossilOpen-source
SaplingOpen-source
Self-managed license model
FossilFree
Sapling-
Integration
API surface (REST / GraphQL / webhooks)
Fossil-
SaplingCLI, webhooks
Enterprise
SSO / SAML / SCIM
Fossil-
Sapling-
Security
Signed commits / supply-chain (GPG / SSH / sigstore)
Fossil-
Sapling-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Fossil

An open-source distributed version control system that combines version control with built-in project management features including bug tracking, wikis, forums, and email alerts. It runs as a single self-contained executable with a built-in web interface and can be easily self-hosted on minimal infrastructure.

Independently observed

Sapling

Leader

An open-source version control system from Meta designed to work with Git repositories, offering both command-line and web-based interfaces for managing code and code review workflows.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Fossil

Open sourceFree tier

Free and open-source

as of verify ↗

Sapling

Leader
Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Fossil
Sapling
macOS
Fossil
Sapling
Windows
Fossil
Sapling
Linux
Fossil
Sapling
CLI
Fossil
Sapling
Deployment
Self-hosted
Fossil
Sapling
On-premise
Fossil
Sapling

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (1)
  • GitHub

Fossil

1 total - 0 not shared
  • GitHub
Independently observed

Sapling

Leader
1 total - 0 not shared
  • GitHub
Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.

Fossil vs Sapling: an evidence-based comparison · Vioscale