head to head · open source
etcd vs centrifugo
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,506 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped today. centrifugo has 10,762 stars, 733 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. etcd leads on adoption by 386% (52,270 vs 10,762 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; centrifugo is written in Go under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, centrifugo 7%. etcd 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| etcd | centrifugo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 733 |
| 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 centrifugo if
- You want the centrifugo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and centrifugo 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 centrifugo
Centrifugo is an open source, language agnostic real time messaging server that delivers messages to online users over WebSocket, HTTP streaming, Server Sent Events, GRPC, and WebTransport, and it is built for teams that want user facing PUB/SUB without writing and operating the transport layer themselves.
read the full centrifugo overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Databases projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Databases field.
Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or centrifugo more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and centrifugo has 10,762. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and centrifugo free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and centrifugo under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and centrifugo?
etcd is written in Go and centrifugo in Go. 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 centrifugo?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose centrifugo if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.