head to head · open source
headroom vs DB-GPT
headroom has 73,130 GitHub stars, 5,624 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DB-GPT has 20,014 stars, 2,936 forks, 439 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. headroom leads on adoption by 265% (73,130 vs 20,014 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 | ★ 73K | ★ 20K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick headroom if
- You weight community size — 73K 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
Headroom is an Apache 2.0 Python library, local proxy, agent wrapper and MCP server that compresses tool outputs, logs, files, RAG chunks and conversation history before they reach an LLM, and it is built for developers running AI coding agents or LLM applications who want to cut token usage without changing the answers they get.
read the full headroom overview →
About DB-GPT
DB GPT is an open source, MIT licensed agentic AI data assistant written in Python that connects to databases, CSV and Excel files, warehouses, and knowledge bases so large language models can write SQL and code, run reusable skills in sandboxed environments, and turn analysis into charts, dashboards, HTML reports, and written insights.
read the full DB-GPT overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or DB-GPT more popular?
headroom has 73,130 GitHub stars and DB-GPT has 20,014. 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 (73,130 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.