head to head · open source
dbx vs node-postgres
dbx has 28,664 GitHub stars, 2,616 forks, 1,406 open issues and last shipped yesterday. node-postgres has 13,229 stars, 1,378 forks, 528 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. dbx leads on adoption by 117% (28,664 vs 13,229 stars). dbx is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; node-postgres is written in JavaScript under MIT. dbx has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, node-postgres 10%. dbx was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (postgresql), 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
| dbx | node-postgres | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick dbx if
- You weight community size — 29K 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 node-postgres if
- You want the node-postgres feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and node-postgres fits your workflow better
About dbx
90+ databases in 25 MB. Desktop, Docker, CLI, built in AI assistant, and MCP Server. <img src="
About node-postgres
node postgres Non blocking PostgreSQL client for Node.js (and bun, deno, cloudflare, etc...). Pure JavaScript and optional native libpq bindings. Monorepo This repo is a monorepo which contains the core pg module as well as a handful of related modules. pg pg pool pg native pg cursor pg query stream pg connection string pg protocol Install Documentation Each package in this repo should have its own readme more focused on how to develop/contribute. For overall documentation on the project and the related modules managed by this repo please see: :star: Documentation :star: The source repo for the documentation is…
read the full node-postgres overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is dbx or node-postgres more popular?
dbx has 28,664 GitHub stars and node-postgres has 13,229. dbx has the larger community by that measure.
Are dbx and node-postgres free?
Both are open source. dbx is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node-postgres under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dbx and node-postgres?
dbx is written in Rust and node-postgres in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, dbx or node-postgres?
Choose dbx if you want the larger community (28,664 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose node-postgres if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.