head to head · open source
etcd vs FerretDB
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars, 10,552 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. FerretDB has 11,111 stars, 493 forks, 448 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. etcd leads on adoption by 372% (52,441 vs 11,111 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 | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 493 |
| 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 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 FerretDB
FerretDB [!TIP] Looking for FerretDB v1? It is there. FerretDB is an open source alternative to MongoDB. It is a proxy that converts MongoDB 5.0+ wire protocol queries to SQL and uses PostgreSQL with DocumentDB extension as a database engine. Why do we need FerretDB? MongoDB was originally an eye opening technology for many of us developers, empowering us to build applications faster than using relational databases. In its early days, its ease to use and well documented drivers made MongoDB one of the simplest database solutions available. However, as time passed, MongoDB abandoned its open source roots…
read the full FerretDB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or FerretDB more popular?
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars and FerretDB has 11,111. 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 (52,441 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.