head to head · open source
etcd vs Memgraph
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,504 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Memgraph has 4,566 stars, 283 forks, 813 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 1,045% (52,270 vs 4,566 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Memgraph is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, Memgraph 6%. Memgraph 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 | Memgraph | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 4.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 283 |
| 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 Memgraph if
- You want the Memgraph feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Memgraph 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 Memgraph
Memgraph is an open source, in memory graph database written in C and C++ for real time graph analytics, GraphRAG, AI memory, and agentic workflows. It is ACID compliant and highly available. It lives in the graph database and AI infrastructure ecosystem and uses a Cypher compatible query layer familiar from Neo4j environments.
read the full Memgraph overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or Memgraph more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and Memgraph has 4,566. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and Memgraph free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Memgraph has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between etcd and Memgraph?
etcd is written in Go and Memgraph in C++. 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 Memgraph?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Memgraph if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.