head to head · open source
etcd vs pikiwidb
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,506 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped today. pikiwidb has 6,129 stars, 1,169 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. etcd leads on adoption by 753% (52,270 vs 6,129 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pikiwidb is written in C++ under BSD-3-Clause. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, pikiwidb 19%. etcd 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 | pikiwidb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 pikiwidb if
- You want the pikiwidb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and pikiwidb 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 pikiwidb
Pikiwidb is a Redis compatible, RocksDB backed persistent key value database from Qihoo's infrastructure team, built for teams whose Redis working set has outgrown memory and who want to keep the Redis protocol without paying the memory price curve.
read the full pikiwidb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or pikiwidb more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and pikiwidb has 6,129. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and pikiwidb free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pikiwidb under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and pikiwidb?
etcd is written in Go and pikiwidb 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 pikiwidb?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pikiwidb if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.