head to head · open source
drawDB vs Dragonfly
drawDB has 39,575 GitHub stars, 3,249 forks, 241 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Dragonfly has 31,579 stars, 1,264 forks, 308 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. drawDB leads on adoption by 25% (39,575 vs 31,579 stars). drawDB is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; Dragonfly is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. drawDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Dragonfly 4%. drawDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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
| drawDB | Dragonfly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 32K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick drawDB if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Dragonfly if
- You want the Dragonfly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Dragonfly fits your workflow better
About drawDB
drawDB is a free, open source, browser based database entity relationship diagram (ERD) editor and SQL generator for developers, data modellers, and teams who need to design database schemas and turn them into SQL scripts without creating an account.
read the full drawDB overview →
About Dragonfly
Dragonfly is a C++ in memory data store that speaks the Redis and Memcached APIs, built for teams that want more throughput and lower resource use from an existing cache or key value workload without changing application code.
read the full Dragonfly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is drawDB or Dragonfly more popular?
drawDB has 39,575 GitHub stars and Dragonfly has 31,579. drawDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are drawDB and Dragonfly free?
Both are open source. drawDB is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Dragonfly has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between drawDB and Dragonfly?
drawDB is written in JavaScript and Dragonfly in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, drawDB or Dragonfly?
Choose drawDB if you want the larger community (39,575 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Dragonfly if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.