head to head · open source
duckdb vs mailcheap
duckdb has 42,160 GitHub stars, 3,934 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mailcheap has 933 stars, 233 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped today. duckdb leads on adoption by 4,419% (42,160 vs 933 stars). duckdb is written in C++ under MIT; mailcheap is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. duckdb has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, mailcheap 25%. mailcheap 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 | mailcheap | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 933 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 233 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick duckdb if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mailcheap if
- You want the mailcheap 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 mailcheap 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 mailcheap
MailCheap is an open source newsletter application in JavaScript — dashboard, public archive, REST API and MCP server in one Next.js app — for writers, teams and agent builders who want to keep their subscriber list in their own database and pay a sending provider per email instead of paying a platform per subscriber.
read the full mailcheap overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is duckdb or mailcheap more popular?
duckdb has 42,160 GitHub stars and mailcheap has 933. duckdb has the larger community by that measure.
Are duckdb and mailcheap free?
Both are open source. duckdb is licensed under MIT and mailcheap under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between duckdb and mailcheap?
duckdb is written in C++ and mailcheap 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, duckdb or mailcheap?
Choose duckdb if you want the larger community (42,160 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mailcheap if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.