head to head · open source
etcd vs dolt
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,504 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dolt has 24,458 stars, 873 forks, 583 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 114% (52,270 vs 24,458 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dolt is written in Go under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, dolt 4%. 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| etcd | dolt | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 24K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 873 |
| 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 dolt if
- You want the dolt 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 dolt 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 dolt
Dolt is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Go written SQL database that versions tables the way Git versions files, built for developers, data teams, and AI agent builders who need database state they can fork, clone, branch, merge, push, and pull.
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 dolt more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and dolt has 24,458. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and dolt free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dolt under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and dolt?
etcd is written in Go and dolt 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 dolt?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dolt if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.