head to head · open source
duckdb vs duckdb-wasm
duckdb has 41,472 GitHub stars, 3,800 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped today. duckdb-wasm has 2,121 stars, 227 forks, 189 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. duckdb leads on adoption by 1,855% (41,472 vs 2,121 stars). duckdb is written in C++ under MIT; duckdb-wasm is written in C++ under MIT. duckdb has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, duckdb-wasm 11%. duckdb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (analytics, database, olap, sql), 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
| duckdb | duckdb-wasm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 227 |
| 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 duckdb-wasm if
- You want the duckdb-wasm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and duckdb-wasm 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 duckdb-wasm
DuckDB Wasm DuckDB is an in process SQL OLAP Database Management System. DuckDB Wasm brings DuckDB to every browser thanks to WebAssembly. Duckdb Wasm speaks Arrow fluently, reads Parquet, CSV and JSON files backed by Filesystem APIs or HTTP requests and has been tested with Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Node.js. Learn more about DuckDB Wasm from our VLDB publication or the recorded talk. Try it out at shell.duckdb.org or at duckdb.org/visualizer. External third party embedding of DuckDB Wasm, read the API documentation, check out the web app examples, and chat with us on Discord. DuckDB and DuckDB Wasm DuckDB Wasm…
read the full duckdb-wasm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is duckdb or duckdb-wasm more popular?
duckdb has 41,472 GitHub stars and duckdb-wasm has 2,121. duckdb has the larger community by that measure.
Are duckdb and duckdb-wasm free?
Both are open source. duckdb is licensed under MIT and duckdb-wasm under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between duckdb and duckdb-wasm?
duckdb is written in C++ and duckdb-wasm 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, duckdb or duckdb-wasm?
Choose duckdb if you want the larger community (41,472 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose duckdb-wasm if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.