head to head · open source
etcd vs couchdb
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars, 10,552 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. couchdb has 6,997 stars, 1,087 forks, 376 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 649% (52,441 vs 6,997 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; couchdb is written in Erlang under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, couchdb 16%. 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 | couchdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 7.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Erlang |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 couchdb if
- You want the couchdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Erlang
- You evaluated both and couchdb fits your workflow better
About etcd
etcd Note : The main branch may be in an unstable or even broken state during development. For stable versions, see [releases][github release]. etcd is a distributed reliable key value store for the most critical data of a distributed system, with a focus on being: Simple : well defined, user facing API (gRPC) Secure : automatic TLS with optional client cert authentication Fast : benchmarked 10,000 writes/sec Reliable : properly distributed using Raft etcd is written in Go and uses the [Raft][] consensus algorithm to manage a highly available replicated log. etcd is used in production by many companies, and the…
About couchdb
Apache CouchDB README ===================== + + + + .. 1 image:: :target: .. 2 image:: :target: Installation For a high level guide to Unix like systems, inc. Mac OS X and Ubuntu, see: INSTALL.Unix For a high level guide to Microsoft Windows, see: INSTALL.Windows Follow the proper instructions to get CouchDB installed on your system. If you're having problems, skip to the next section. Documentation We have documentation: It includes a changelog: For troubleshooting or cryptic error messages, see: For general help, see: We also have an IRC channel: The mailing lists provide a wealth of support and knowledge for…
read the full couchdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or couchdb more popular?
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars and couchdb has 6,997. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and couchdb free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and couchdb under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and couchdb?
etcd is written in Go and couchdb in Erlang. 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 couchdb?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,441 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose couchdb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.