head to head · open source
duckdb vs preswald
duckdb has 42,747 GitHub stars, 4,176 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped yesterday. preswald has 4,272 stars, 647 forks, 330 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. duckdb leads on adoption by 901% (42,747 vs 4,272 stars). duckdb is written in C++ under MIT; preswald is written in Python under Apache-2.0. duckdb has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, preswald 15%. duckdb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (analytics), 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 | preswald | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 43K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 647 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick duckdb if
- You weight community size — 43K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick preswald if
- You want the preswald feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and preswald fits your workflow better
About duckdb
DuckDB DuckDB is a high performance analytical database system. It is designed to be fast, reliable, portable, and easy to use. DuckDB provides a rich SQL dialect with support far beyond basic SQL. DuckDB supports arbitrary and nested correlated subqueries, window functions, collations, complex types (arrays, structs, maps), and several extensions designed to make SQL easier to use. DuckDB is available as a standalone CLI application and has clients for Python, R, Java, Wasm, etc., with deep integrations with packages such as pandas and dplyr. For more information on using DuckDB, please refer to the DuckDB…
read the full duckdb overview →
About preswald
Create interactive data apps with a full data stack that runs in the browser (no local dependencies!),runs offline, and is shareable in a single file. What is Preswald? Preswald is a static site generator for building interactive data apps in Python. It packages compute, data access, and UI into self contained data apps that run locally in the browser. Built on a WASM runtime with Pyodide and DuckDB, Preswald enables portable, file based apps that are fast, reactive, and shareable. You can think of Preswald as a lightweight alternative to heavier web app platforms. It provides built in UI components and reactive…
read the full preswald overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is duckdb or preswald more popular?
duckdb has 42,747 GitHub stars and preswald has 4,272. duckdb has the larger community by that measure.
Are duckdb and preswald free?
Both are open source. duckdb is licensed under MIT and preswald under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between duckdb and preswald?
duckdb is written in C++ and preswald in Python. 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 preswald?
Choose duckdb if you want the larger community (42,747 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose preswald if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.