head to head · open source
etcd vs dbgate
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,506 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped today. dbgate has 7,314 stars, 474 forks, 461 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 615% (52,270 vs 7,314 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dbgate is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, dbgate 6%. 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.
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Side by side
| etcd | dbgate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 474 |
| 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 dbgate if
- You want the dbgate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and dbgate 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 dbgate
DbGate is a cross platform, GPL 3.0 licensed database manager for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, SQLite and a dozen further engines, built for developers and data engineers who work with several databases at once and want one client on Windows, Linux, macOS or in a browser.
read the full dbgate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or dbgate more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and dbgate has 7,314. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and dbgate free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dbgate under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and dbgate?
etcd is written in Go and dbgate in JavaScript. 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 dbgate?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dbgate if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.