head to head · open source
dagster vs zvec
dagster has 16,169 GitHub stars, 2,294 forks, 2,589 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zvec has 15,962 stars, 996 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dagster leads on adoption by 1% (16,169 vs 15,962 stars). dagster is written in Python under Apache-2.0; zvec is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. dagster has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, zvec 6%. dagster 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| dagster | zvec | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 996 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick dagster if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick zvec if
- You want the zvec feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and zvec fits your workflow better
About dagster
Dagster is a cloud native data pipeline orchestrator written in Python and released under the Apache 2.0 licence, built for data engineers, data scientists, and machine learning teams who declare the tables, data sets, models, and reports their pipelines should produce and need those assets tested, observable, and kept up to date from local development through production.
read the full dagster overview →
About zvec
Zvec is an open source, in process vector database written in C++ and licensed under Apache 2.0, built to embed directly into applications so that vector search, full text search, and hybrid retrieval run inside the developer's own process instead of behind a separate service.
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More Machine Learning Infrastructure projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Machine Learning Infrastructure field.
Frequently asked questions
Is dagster or zvec more popular?
dagster has 16,169 GitHub stars and zvec has 15,962. dagster has the larger community by that measure.
Are dagster and zvec free?
Both are open source. dagster is licensed under Apache-2.0 and zvec under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dagster and zvec?
dagster is written in Python and zvec in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, dagster or zvec?
Choose dagster if you want the larger community (16,169 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose zvec if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.