head to head · open source
compose vs database-lab-engine
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. database-lab-engine has 2,786 stars, 90 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 1,285% (38,573 vs 2,786 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; database-lab-engine is written in Go under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, database-lab-engine 3%. compose was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| compose | database-lab-engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 90 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick compose if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick database-lab-engine if
- You want the database-lab-engine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and database-lab-engine fits your workflow better
About compose
Table of Contents Docker Compose Where to get Docker Compose + Windows and macOS + Linux Quick Start Contributing Legacy Docker Compose Docker Compose is a tool for running multi container applications on Docker defined using the Compose file format. A Compose file is used to define how one or more containers that make up your application are configured. Once you have a Compose file, you can create and start your application with a single command: docker compose up . Note : About Docker Swarm Docker Swarm used to rely on the legacy compose file format but did not adopt the compose specification so is missing…
read the full compose overview →
About database-lab-engine
Deutsch Português (BR) Русский Español Українська DBLab Engine ⚡ Blazing fast PostgreSQL cloning and branching 🐘 🛠️ Build powerful dev/test environments. 🔃 Cover 100% of DB migrations with CI tests. 💡 Quickly verify ChatGPT ideas to get rid of hallucinations. Available for any PostgreSQL, including self managed and managed services like AWS RDS, GCP Cloud SQL, Supabase, and Timescale. It can be installed and used anywhere: across all cloud environments and on premises. Features Documentation Blog Community & Support Contributing For managed PostgreSQL cloud services like AWS RDS or Heroku, direct physical…
read the full database-lab-engine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or database-lab-engine more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and database-lab-engine has 2,786. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and database-lab-engine free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and database-lab-engine under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and database-lab-engine?
compose is written in Go and database-lab-engine in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, compose or database-lab-engine?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose database-lab-engine if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.