head to head · open source
Directus vs Rowy
Directus has 38,820 GitHub stars, 4,994 forks, 402 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Rowy has 6,847 stars, 559 forks, 80 open issues and last shipped 2.0 years ago. Directus leads on adoption by 467% (38,820 vs 6,847 stars). Directus is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Rowy is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Directus has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Rowy 8%. Directus was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (cms), 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
| Directus | Rowy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 6.8K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2024-11-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 559 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Directus if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Rowy if
- You want the Rowy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Rowy fits your workflow better
About Directus
The Collaborative Backend for Builders & AI Connect any SQL database and get instant REST and GraphQL APIs, a visual management Studio, and a native MCP server for AI agents. 45M+ downloads · 500K+ projects deployed [!NOTE] Free for most organizations. Under $5M annual revenue and 50 employees? Directus is completely free. Apply for an Open Innovation Grant license and get a key in minutes. Learn more about our license. 🐇 Introduction Directus wraps any SQL database with a REST and GraphQL API layer and a visual Studio. Engineers control schema and access. Non technical teammates and AI agents work directly…
read the full Directus overview →
About Rowy
✨ Airtable like UI for managing database ✨ Build any automation, with or without code ✨ Connect to your database and create Cloud Functions in low code without leaving your browser. Focus on building your apps. Low code for Firebase and Google Cloud. Website • Documentation • Chat with us • Twitter Live Demo 🛝 💥 Explore Rowy on live demo playground 💥 Features ✨ Powerful spreadsheet interface for Firestore CMS for Firestore CRUD operations Bulk import or export data csv, json, tsv Sort and filter by row values Lock, Freeze, Resize, Hide and Rename columns Multiple views for the same collection Automate with…
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Frameworks & Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Frameworks & Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Directus or Rowy more popular?
Directus has 38,820 GitHub stars and Rowy has 6,847. Directus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Directus and Rowy free?
Neither Directus nor Rowy declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Directus and Rowy?
Directus is written in TypeScript and Rowy in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Directus or Rowy?
Choose Directus if you want the larger community (38,820 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Rowy if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.