head to head · open source
etcd vs Apache IoTDB
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,504 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache IoTDB has 6,402 stars, 1,157 forks, 734 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 716% (52,270 vs 6,402 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Apache IoTDB is written in Java under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, Apache IoTDB 18%. etcd 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
| etcd | Apache IoTDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 6.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick etcd if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Apache IoTDB if
- You want the Apache IoTDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Apache IoTDB fits your workflow better
About etcd
etcd is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Go written distributed key value store that holds the most critical data of a distributed system in a Raft replicated log, aimed at the platform and infrastructure engineers who must keep that control plane data consistent and available.
About Apache IoTDB
Apache IoTDB is an Apache 2.0 licensed time series database written in Java that handles collection, storage, and analysis of industrial IoT time series data, built for teams that must ingest high throughput readings from very large fleets of devices and analyse them without leaving the Hadoop and Spark tooling they already run.
read the full Apache IoTDB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or Apache IoTDB more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and Apache IoTDB has 6,402. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and Apache IoTDB free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Apache IoTDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and Apache IoTDB?
etcd is written in Go and Apache IoTDB in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, etcd or Apache IoTDB?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Apache IoTDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.