head to head · open source
dlt vs bigfunctions
dlt has 5,872 GitHub stars, 606 forks, 434 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. bigfunctions has 759 stars, 70 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 28 days ago. dlt leads on adoption by 674% (5,872 vs 759 stars). dlt is written in Python under Apache-2.0; bigfunctions is written in Python under MIT. dlt has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, bigfunctions 9%. dlt was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (data, data-engineering, data-warehouse), 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
| dlt | bigfunctions | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.9K | ★ 759 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 606 | ⑂ 70 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick dlt if
- You weight community size — 5.9K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bigfunctions if
- You want the bigfunctions feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and bigfunctions fits your workflow better
About dlt
dlt (data load tool) is an open source Python library, licensed under Apache 2.0, that automates tedious data loading by moving data from messy, often unstructured sources into well structured, typed datasets, and it is built for Python developers and data engineers who want to load data without adopting a platform.
About bigfunctions
BigFunctions is an open source Python framework, released under the MIT licence, for building a governed catalog of BigQuery functions — packaged with a community library of more than 150 functions that can be called directly or redeployed — and it is aimed at data engineers, analysts, and teams working inside Google BigQuery.
read the full bigfunctions overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is dlt or bigfunctions more popular?
dlt has 5,872 GitHub stars and bigfunctions has 759. dlt has the larger community by that measure.
Are dlt and bigfunctions free?
Both are open source. dlt is licensed under Apache-2.0 and bigfunctions under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dlt and bigfunctions?
dlt is written in Python and bigfunctions in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, dlt or bigfunctions?
Choose dlt if you want the larger community (5,872 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose bigfunctions if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.