head to head · open source
dbt vs starrocks
dbt has 13,880 GitHub stars, 2,570 forks, 1,534 open issues and last shipped today. starrocks has 12,125 stars, 2,594 forks, 1,443 open issues and last shipped today. dbt leads on adoption by 14% (13,880 vs 12,125 stars). dbt is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; starrocks is written in Java under Apache-2.0. dbt has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, starrocks 21%. starrocks was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (analytics), 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
| dbt | starrocks | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 12K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 2.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick dbt if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick starrocks if
- You want the starrocks feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and starrocks fits your workflow better
About dbt
dbt is an open source data transformation framework that lets data analysts and engineers transform their data using the same practices software engineers use to build applications, and it is aimed at analytics teams that model data inside a warehouse.
About starrocks
StarRocks is an Apache 2.0, Linux Foundation open query engine written in Java that delivers sub second ad hoc and multi dimensional analytics both on and off the data lakehouse, built for data platform teams, analytics engineers, and BI users who need fast SQL over large distributed datasets without moving data or rewriting SQL.
read the full starrocks overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is dbt or starrocks more popular?
dbt has 13,880 GitHub stars and starrocks has 12,125. dbt has the larger community by that measure.
Are dbt and starrocks free?
Both are open source. dbt is licensed under Apache-2.0 and starrocks under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dbt and starrocks?
dbt is written in Rust and starrocks in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, dbt or starrocks?
Choose dbt if you want the larger community (13,880 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose starrocks if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.