head to head · open source
duckdb vs rocksdb
duckdb has 41,472 GitHub stars, 3,800 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped today. rocksdb has 32,108 stars, 6,931 forks, 1,645 open issues and last shipped yesterday. duckdb leads on adoption by 29% (41,472 vs 32,108 stars). duckdb is written in C++ under MIT; rocksdb is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. duckdb has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, rocksdb 22%. 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 | rocksdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 32K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 6.9K |
| 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 rocksdb if
- You want the rocksdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and rocksdb 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 rocksdb
RocksDB is an embeddable, persistent key value store written in C++ and developed by the Facebook Database Engineering Team. It is a library rather than a standalone server, and it forms the core building block for a fast key value server. The project builds on earlier work on LevelDB by Sanjay Ghemawat and Jeff Dean, and it lives in the systems infrastructure and database ecosystem, carrying the topics database and storage engine. It has been public for roughly fourteen years and is dual licensed under GPLv2 and Apache 2.0, so a user may select either license at their option.
read the full rocksdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is duckdb or rocksdb more popular?
duckdb has 41,472 GitHub stars and rocksdb has 32,108. duckdb has the larger community by that measure.
Are duckdb and rocksdb free?
Both are open source. duckdb is licensed under MIT and rocksdb under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between duckdb and rocksdb?
duckdb is written in C++ and rocksdb 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 rocksdb?
Choose duckdb if you want the larger community (41,472 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rocksdb if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.