head to head · open source
debezium vs whodb
debezium has 13,129 GitHub stars, 3,042 forks, 131 open issues and last shipped yesterday. whodb has 5,031 stars, 238 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped yesterday. debezium leads on adoption by 161% (13,129 vs 5,031 stars). debezium is written in Java under Apache-2.0; whodb is written in Go under Apache-2.0. debezium has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, whodb 5%. whodb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (data-pipeline), 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 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| debezium | whodb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 238 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick debezium if
- You weight community size — 13K 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 whodb if
- You want the whodb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and whodb fits your workflow better
About debezium
Debezium is an open source, low latency change data capture (CDC) platform that monitors databases and turns every row level change into an ordered event stream that applications consume, and it is built for Java teams already running Apache Kafka and Kafka Connect.
read the full debezium overview →
About whodb
WhoDB is an Apache 2.0, Go based open source data workspace that gives users one place to explore databases, edit data, run queries, and understand how a schema fits together. It runs in the browser, is available as a desktop application, and also provides a terminal CLI, so it fits the open source data engineering and integration ecosystem for internal tools, data platforms, database management, data governance, data integration, data pipelines, data catalogs, data lineage, and ER diagrams.
read the full whodb overview →
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Data Engineering & Integration projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Data Engineering & Integration field.
Frequently asked questions
Is debezium or whodb more popular?
debezium has 13,129 GitHub stars and whodb has 5,031. debezium has the larger community by that measure.
Are debezium and whodb free?
Both are open source. debezium is licensed under Apache-2.0 and whodb under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between debezium and whodb?
debezium is written in Java and whodb in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, debezium or whodb?
Choose debezium if you want the larger community (13,129 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose whodb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.