head to head · open source
etcd vs FerretDB
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,506 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped today. FerretDB has 11,070 stars, 488 forks, 448 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. etcd leads on adoption by 372% (52,270 vs 11,070 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; FerretDB is written in Go under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, FerretDB 4%. etcd was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (database, go), 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 | FerretDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-06-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 488 |
| 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 FerretDB if
- You want the FerretDB 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 FerretDB 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 FerretDB
FerretDB is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed proxy written in Go that converts MongoDB 5.0+ wire protocol queries into SQL and stores the data in PostgreSQL with the DocumentDB extension, giving developers a drop in MongoDB compatible document database without MongoDB's SSPL licence.
read the full FerretDB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or FerretDB more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and FerretDB has 11,070. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and FerretDB free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and FerretDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and FerretDB?
etcd is written in Go and FerretDB 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 FerretDB?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose FerretDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.