head to head · open source
etcd vs mcp-toolbox
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,504 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp-toolbox has 16,443 stars, 1,727 forks, 292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 218% (52,270 vs 16,443 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; mcp-toolbox is written in Go under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, mcp-toolbox 11%. mcp-toolbox 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 | mcp-toolbox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 mcp-toolbox if
- You want the mcp-toolbox 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 mcp-toolbox 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 mcp-toolbox
MCP Toolbox for Databases is an open source Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, that connects AI agents, IDEs, and applications directly to enterprise databases.
read the full mcp-toolbox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or mcp-toolbox more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and mcp-toolbox has 16,443. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and mcp-toolbox free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mcp-toolbox under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and mcp-toolbox?
etcd is written in Go and mcp-toolbox 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 mcp-toolbox?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mcp-toolbox if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.