head to head · open source
etcd vs pglite
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars, 10,552 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pglite has 16,226 stars, 467 forks, 166 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 223% (52,441 vs 16,226 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pglite is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, pglite 3%. 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.
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Side by side
| etcd | pglite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 467 |
| 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 pglite if
- You want the pglite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and pglite 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 pglite
PGlite the WASM build of Postgres from Electric . Build reactive, realtime, local first apps directly on Postgres. PGlite Postgres in WASM PGlite is a WASM Postgres build packaged into a TypeScript client library that enables you to run Postgres in the browser, Node.js, Bun and Deno, with no need to install any other dependencies. It is only 3mb gzipped and has support for many Postgres extensions, including pgvector and PostGIS. It can be used as an ephemeral in memory database, or with persistence either to the file system (Node/Bun/Deno) or indexedDB (Browser). Unlike previous "Postgres in the browser"…
read the full pglite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or pglite more popular?
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars and pglite has 16,226. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and pglite free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pglite under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and pglite?
etcd is written in Go and pglite in TypeScript. 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 pglite?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,441 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pglite if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.