head to head · open source
drawDB vs Dexie.js
drawDB has 40,237 GitHub stars, 3,352 forks, 241 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Dexie.js has 14,673 stars, 724 forks, 596 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. drawDB leads on adoption by 174% (40,237 vs 14,673 stars). drawDB is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; Dexie.js is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. drawDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Dexie.js 5%. drawDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (database, indexeddb), 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 | Dexie.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 15K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 724 |
| 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 Dexie.js if
- You want the Dexie.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Dexie.js fits your workflow better
About drawDB
drawDB Free, simple, and intuitive database schema editor and SQL generator. DrawDB is a robust and user friendly database entity relationship diagram (ERD) editor right in your browser. Build diagrams with a few clicks, export and import SQL scripts, generate migrations, customize your editor, and more without creating an account. See the full set of features on here. Getting Started Local Development Build Docker Build If you want to enable sharing, set up the server and environment variables according to .env.sample . This is optional unless you need to share files. Contributing Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for…
read the full drawDB overview →
About Dexie.js
Dexie.js [![NPM Version][npm image]][npm url] Dexie.js is a wrapper library for indexedDB the standard database in the browser. Why Dexie.js? IndexedDB is the portable database for all browser engines. Dexie.js makes it fun and easy to work with. But also: Dexie.js is widely used by 100,000 of web sites, apps and other projects and supports all browsers, Electron for Desktop apps, Capacitor for iOS / Android apps and of course pure PWAs. Dexie.js works around bugs in the IndexedDB implementations, giving a more stable user experience. Need sync? Dexie Cloud adds real time sync, auth, and collaboration on top of…
read the full Dexie.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is drawDB or Dexie.js more popular?
drawDB has 40,237 GitHub stars and Dexie.js has 14,673. drawDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are drawDB and Dexie.js free?
Both are open source. drawDB is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Dexie.js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between drawDB and Dexie.js?
drawDB is written in JavaScript and Dexie.js 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, drawDB or Dexie.js?
Choose drawDB if you want the larger community (40,237 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Dexie.js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.