head to head · open source
DBeaver vs SlateDB
DBeaver has 52,273 GitHub stars, 4,442 forks, 3,334 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SlateDB has 3,607 stars, 330 forks, 184 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DBeaver leads on adoption by 1,349% (52,273 vs 3,607 stars). DBeaver is written in Java under Apache-2.0; SlateDB is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. DBeaver has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, SlateDB 9%. SlateDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| DBeaver | SlateDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 330 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick DBeaver if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SlateDB if
- You want the SlateDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and SlateDB fits your workflow better
About DBeaver
DBeaver Free multi platform database tool for developers, SQL programmers, database administrators and analysts. Has a lot of features including schema editor, SQL editor, data editor, AI chat, ER diagrams, data export/import/migration, SQL execution plans, database administration tools, database dashboards, Spatial data viewer, proxy and SSH tunnelling, custom database drivers editor, etc. Out of the box supports more than 100 database drivers . Supports any database which has JDBC or ODBC driver (basically almost all existing databases). Integrates AI tools for work with data, SQL and database structure…
read the full DBeaver overview →
About SlateDB
Introduction SlateDB is an embedded storage engine built as a log structured merge tree. Unlike traditional LSM tree storage engines, SlateDB writes data to object storage (S3, GCS, ABS, MinIO, Tigris, and so on). Leveraging object storage allows SlateDB to provide bottomless storage capacity, high durability, and easy replication. The trade off is that object storage has a higher latency and higher API cost than local disk. To mitigate high write API costs (PUTs), SlateDB batches writes. Rather than writing every put() call to object storage, MemTables are flushed periodically to object storage as a string…
read the full SlateDB overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Databases projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Databases field.
Frequently asked questions
Is DBeaver or SlateDB more popular?
DBeaver has 52,273 GitHub stars and SlateDB has 3,607. DBeaver has the larger community by that measure.
Are DBeaver and SlateDB free?
Both are open source. DBeaver is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SlateDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between DBeaver and SlateDB?
DBeaver is written in Java and SlateDB in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, DBeaver or SlateDB?
Choose DBeaver if you want the larger community (52,273 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose SlateDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.