head to head · open source
Cube vs pudl
Cube has 21,147 GitHub stars, 2,179 forks, 1,185 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pudl has 613 stars, 151 forks, 502 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cube leads on adoption by 3,350% (21,147 vs 613 stars). Cube is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; pudl is written in Python under MIT. Cube has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, pudl 25%. Cube 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
| Cube | pudl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 613 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 151 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Cube if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- 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 Cube
Website • Docs • Examples • Blog • Slack • X Cube Core is the open source semantic layer. Define metrics, dimensions, joins, and access rules once in code, then expose them through SQL, REST, and GraphQL APIs to anything downstream — BI tools, custom applications, or AI agents. Cube Core is headless: it doesn't ship a UI, so you can build the analytics experience that fits your product. Cube Core works with all SQL data sources, including cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, Databricks, and BigQuery; query engines like Presto and Amazon Athena; and application databases like Postgres. It has a built in…
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…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Cube or pudl more popular?
Cube has 21,147 GitHub stars and pudl has 613. Cube has the larger community by that measure.
Are Cube and pudl free?
Both are open source. Cube has no licence declared in this registry, and pudl is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Cube and pudl?
Cube is written in Rust 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, Cube or pudl?
Choose Cube if you want the larger community (21,147 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose pudl if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.