head to head · open source
headroom vs DB-GPT
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars, 6,155 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DB-GPT has 20,251 stars, 3,001 forks, 439 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. headroom leads on adoption by 289% (78,773 vs 20,251 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; DB-GPT is written in Python under MIT. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, DB-GPT 15%. headroom was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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
| headroom | DB-GPT | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 20K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick headroom if
- You weight community size — 79K 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 DB-GPT if
- You want the DB-GPT feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and DB-GPT fits your workflow better
About headroom
Quickstart · Install · Proof · Agents · Docs · Discord · llms.txt AI agents / LLMs: read /llms.txt here, or fetch the live index · full docs blob . Headroom compresses everything your AI agent reads — tool outputs, logs, RAG chunks, files, and conversation history — before it reaches the LLM. Same answers, fraction of the tokens. Compression runs on your machine; no prompt or file content is sent anywhere to be compressed. 10,144 → 1,260 tokens. The same FATAL found. What it does Library — compress(messages) in Python or TypeScript, inline in any app. Proxy — headroom proxy port 8787 , zero code changes, any…
read the full headroom overview →
About DB-GPT
DB GPT: Open Source Agentic AI Data Assistant Documents Contact Us Community Paper An open source AI data assistant that connects to your data, writes SQL and code, runs skills in sandboxed environments, and turns analysis into reports, insights, and action. What is DB GPT? DB GPT is an open source agentic AI data assistant for the next generation of AI + Data products. It helps users and teams: connect to databases, CSV / Excel files, warehouses, and knowledge bases ask questions in natural language and let AI write SQL autonomously run Python and code driven analysis workflows load and execute reusable skills…
read the full DB-GPT overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or DB-GPT more popular?
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars and DB-GPT has 20,251. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and DB-GPT free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0 and DB-GPT under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between headroom and DB-GPT?
headroom is written in Python and DB-GPT 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, headroom or DB-GPT?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (78,773 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose DB-GPT if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.