head to head · open source
etcd vs postgrest
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,504 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. postgrest has 27,670 stars, 1,229 forks, 400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 89% (52,270 vs 27,670 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; postgrest is written in Haskell under MIT. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, postgrest 4%. 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 | postgrest | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 28K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Haskell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| 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 postgrest if
- You want the postgrest feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Haskell
- You evaluated both and postgrest 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 postgrest
PostgREST is a Haskell written server that serves a fully RESTful API from any existing PostgreSQL database, and it is aimed at developers, database administrators, and operators who want a standards compliant HTTP API without writing and maintaining one from scratch.
read the full postgrest overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or postgrest more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and postgrest has 27,670. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and postgrest free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and postgrest under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and postgrest?
etcd is written in Go and postgrest in Haskell. 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 postgrest?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose postgrest if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.