head to head · open source
mall vs drawDB
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars, 29,826 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. drawDB has 39,572 stars, 3,248 forks, 241 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. mall leads on adoption by 114% (84,789 vs 39,572 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; drawDB is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, drawDB 8%. mall was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| mall | drawDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 40K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mall if
- You weight community size — 85K 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 drawDB if
- You want the drawDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and drawDB fits your workflow better
About mall
mall is a complete e commerce system built on Spring Boot and MyBatis, distributed as a Java project under the Apache 2.0 license. It ships two applications in one repository: a storefront system for shoppers and an administrative back office for operators. The storefront covers the home portal, product recommendation, product search, product display, shopping cart, order flow, member center, customer service, and help center. The back office covers product management, order management, member management, promotion management, operations management, content management, statistics reports, finance management, perm…
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or drawDB more popular?
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars and drawDB has 39,572. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and drawDB free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and drawDB under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and drawDB?
mall is written in Java and drawDB in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mall or drawDB?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,789 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose drawDB if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.