head to head · open source
duckdb vs postgres
duckdb has 41,472 GitHub stars, 3,800 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped today. postgres has 8,730 stars, 374 forks, 303 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. duckdb leads on adoption by 375% (41,472 vs 8,730 stars). duckdb is written in C++ under MIT; postgres is written in JavaScript under Unlicense. duckdb has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, postgres 4%. duckdb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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 | postgres | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | MIT | Unlicense |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 374 |
| 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 postgres if
- You want the postgres feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Unlicense license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and postgres 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 postgres
Postgres.js is a full featured PostgreSQL client for JavaScript and TypeScript runtimes — Node.js, Deno, Bun and Cloudflare — published to npm as postgres , and it is aimed at developers who need to query a PostgreSQL database from application code without adopting a heavier ORM or query builder.
read the full postgres overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is duckdb or postgres more popular?
duckdb has 41,472 GitHub stars and postgres has 8,730. duckdb has the larger community by that measure.
Are duckdb and postgres free?
Both are open source. duckdb is licensed under MIT and postgres under Unlicense. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between duckdb and postgres?
duckdb is written in C++ and postgres 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 postgres?
Choose duckdb if you want the larger community (41,472 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose postgres if its feature set, stack or Unlicense licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.