head to head · open source
Airbyte vs pudl
Airbyte has 22,083 GitHub stars, 5,351 forks, 2,395 open issues and last shipped today. pudl has 605 stars, 145 forks, 502 open issues and last shipped today. Airbyte leads on adoption by 3,550% (22,083 vs 605 stars). Airbyte is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; pudl is written in Python under MIT. Airbyte has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, pudl 24%. Airbyte was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (etl), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Airbyte | pudl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 605 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 145 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Airbyte if
- You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pudl if
- You want the pudl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pudl fits your workflow better
About Airbyte
Airbyte open source data movement project. It lives in data engineering and data integration ecosystem. It moves data from APIs, databases, and files into warehouses, data lakes, and AI applications. It supports ELT and ETL pipelines. It also supports AI agents needing business data.
read the full Airbyte overview →
About pudl
=============================================================================== The Public Utility Data Liberation Project (PUDL) =============================================================================== .. readme intro .. repo status image:: :target: :alt: Project Status: Active .. pytest image:: :target: :alt: PyTest Status .. codecov image:: :target: :alt: Codecov Test Coverage .. docs image:: :target: :alt: Docs Build Status .. oc image:: :target: .. pre commit ci image:: :target: :alt: pre commit CI .. zenodo doi image:: :target: :alt: Zenodo DOI .. office hours image:: :target: :alt: Schedule a 1 on 1…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Airbyte or pudl more popular?
Airbyte has 22,083 GitHub stars and pudl has 605. Airbyte has the larger community by that measure.
Are Airbyte and pudl free?
Both are open source. Airbyte has no licence declared in this registry, and pudl is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Airbyte and pudl?
Airbyte is written in Python and pudl in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Airbyte or pudl?
Choose Airbyte if you want the larger community (22,083 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose pudl if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.