# polar vs Sonatype Nexus

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

| | polar | Sonatype Nexus |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 ✓ | 64/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #2 of 11 in Package Management |
| GitHub stars | 10 437 ✓ | 2 691 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +158 ✓ | +36 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 30 ✓ |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 | release-3.97.2-02 · 23 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | EPL-1.0 |
| Main language | Python | Java |

## Which one should you pick?

polar scores 71/100 against 64/100 for Sonatype Nexus, so it is the safer default.

Sonatype Nexus ships more often: 30 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

If you want the quickest setup, Sonatype Nexus is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.

polar is growing faster right now (+158 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [polar](https://selfhost.directory/project/polar) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/polar.md)
- [Sonatype Nexus](https://selfhost.directory/project/sonatype-nexus) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/sonatype-nexus.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/polar-vs-sonatype-nexus