SerendipityvsShields
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Serendipity | Shields | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #7 of 24 in Blogging | #6 of 166 in Developer Tools |
| GitHub stars | 229 | 27 335 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +0 | +129 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 2 | 0 |
| Latest release | 2.6.1 · 22 Jul 2026 | — |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | PHP | JavaScript |
Which one should you pick?
Shields scores 80/100 against 53/100 for Serendipity, so it is the safer default.
Serendipity ships more often: 2 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for Shields.
If you want the quickest setup, Shields is easier to run; Serendipity needs more configuration.
Shields is growing faster right now (+129 stars in 30 days).
Serendipity details →Shields details →