# checkmate vs Unison

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | checkmate | Unison |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 72/100 ✓ | 65/100 |
| Rank in category | #15 of 104 in Monitoring & observability | #2 of 15 in File Sync |
| GitHub stars | 11 007 ✓ | 5 559 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +120 ✓ | +65 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 15 ✓ | 2 |
| Latest release | v3.13.1 · 22 Oct 2026 ✓ | v2.54.0 · 1 May 2026 |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | OCaml |

## Which one should you pick?

checkmate scores 72/100 against 65/100 for Unison, so it is the safer default.

checkmate ships more often: 15 stable releases in the past year, against 2 for Unison.

If you want the quickest setup, checkmate is easier to run; Unison needs more configuration.

## Details

- [checkmate](https://selfhost.directory/project/checkmate) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/checkmate.md)
- [Unison](https://selfhost.directory/project/unison) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/unison.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/checkmate-vs-unison