head to head · open source
etcd vs QuestDB
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,504 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. QuestDB has 17,326 stars, 1,647 forks, 952 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 202% (52,270 vs 17,326 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; QuestDB is written in Java under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, QuestDB 10%. QuestDB 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| etcd | QuestDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 QuestDB if
- You want the QuestDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and QuestDB 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 QuestDB
QuestDB open source time series database. Java, Apache 2.0, category Infrastructure & Operations / Databases. Lives in open source database ecosystem for massive data scale, low latency, real time analytics.
read the full QuestDB overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Databases projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Databases field.
Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or QuestDB more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and QuestDB has 17,326. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and QuestDB free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and QuestDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and QuestDB?
etcd is written in Go and QuestDB in Java. 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 QuestDB?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose QuestDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.