head to head · open source
duckdb vs Billion Mail
duckdb has 41,440 GitHub stars, 3,798 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Billion Mail has 15,611 stars, 1,702 forks, 236 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. duckdb leads on adoption by 165% (41,440 vs 15,611 stars). duckdb is written in C++ under MIT; Billion Mail is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. duckdb has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Billion Mail 11%. duckdb 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
| duckdb | Billion Mail | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 16K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick duckdb if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Billion Mail if
- You want the Billion Mail feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Billion Mail fits your workflow better
About duckdb
DuckDB is an analytical, in process SQL database management system written in C++ and released under the MIT license. It runs inside the application process rather than as a separate server, and it is distributed as a standalone command line application as well as through clients for Python, R, Java, and WebAssembly. The project lives in the analytical SQL ecosystem, where the topics listed for it are analytics, database, embedded database, OLAP, and SQL. It has been developed for about eight years, with the last push recorded on 15 September 2026.
read the full duckdb overview →
About Billion Mail
BillionMail is an open source mail server and email marketing platform written in Go and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It lives in the self hosted email ecosystem and is described as a solution for newsletters, promotional emails, and transactional messages. The project combines mail server topics such as Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, and SMTP with campaign features such as customer management, analytics, templates, and sending control.
read the full Billion Mail overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is duckdb or Billion Mail more popular?
duckdb has 41,440 GitHub stars and Billion Mail has 15,611. duckdb has the larger community by that measure.
Are duckdb and Billion Mail free?
Both are open source. duckdb is licensed under MIT and Billion Mail under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between duckdb and Billion Mail?
duckdb is written in C++ and Billion Mail in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, duckdb or Billion Mail?
Choose duckdb if you want the larger community (41,440 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Billion Mail if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.