head to head · open source
debezium vs whodb
debezium has 13,307 GitHub stars, 3,124 forks, 131 open issues and last shipped yesterday. whodb has 5,050 stars, 240 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped yesterday. debezium leads on adoption by 164% (13,307 vs 5,050 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%. debezium 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.
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Side by side
| debezium | whodb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 240 |
| 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
Copyright Debezium Authors. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. The Antlr grammars within the debezium ddl parser module are licensed under the MIT License. English Chinese Japanese Korean Debezium Debezium is an open source project that provides a low latency data streaming platform for change data capture (CDC). You set up and configure Debezium to monitor your databases, and then your applications consume events for each row level change made to the database. Only committed changes are visible, so your application doesn't have to worry about transactions or changes that are rolled back. Debezium…
read the full debezium overview →
About whodb
WhoDB A lightweight, self hosted workspace for your databases Available on Quick start · Documentation · Live demo · Community WhoDB gives you one place to explore your databases, edit data, run queries, and understand how a schema fits together. It runs in the browser, is easy to self host, and is available as a desktop app or terminal CLI too. Use it when you want to inspect a local database, help a teammate explore unfamiliar data, or work without installing a heavyweight database client. AI features are optional: connect Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, LM Studio, or another OpenAI compatible provider if you want…
read the full whodb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is debezium or whodb more popular?
debezium has 13,307 GitHub stars and whodb has 5,050. 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 (13,307 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.