head to head · open source
duckdb vs phplist3
duckdb has 41,440 GitHub stars, 3,798 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped yesterday. phplist3 has 871 stars, 290 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. duckdb leads on adoption by 4,658% (41,440 vs 871 stars). duckdb is written in C++ under MIT; phplist3 is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. duckdb has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, phplist3 33%. 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 | phplist3 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 871 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 290 |
| 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 phplist3 if
- You want the phplist3 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and phplist3 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 phplist3
phpList 3 is a fully functional open source email marketing manager, written in PHP and released under the AGPL 3.0 licence, for creating, sending, integrating and analysing email campaigns and newsletters, aimed at organisations that want to run campaign infrastructure on their own server rather than hand it to a third party.
read the full phplist3 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is duckdb or phplist3 more popular?
duckdb has 41,440 GitHub stars and phplist3 has 871. duckdb has the larger community by that measure.
Are duckdb and phplist3 free?
Both are open source. duckdb is licensed under MIT and phplist3 under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between duckdb and phplist3?
duckdb is written in C++ and phplist3 in PHP. 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 phplist3?
Choose duckdb if you want the larger community (41,440 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose phplist3 if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.