head to head · open source
etcd vs realm-swift
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars, 10,552 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. realm-swift has 16,601 stars, 2,231 forks, 499 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. etcd leads on adoption by 216% (52,441 vs 16,601 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; realm-swift is written in Objective-C under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, realm-swift 13%. 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 | realm-swift | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Objective-C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| 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 realm-swift if
- You want the realm-swift feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Objective-C
- You evaluated both and realm-swift 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 realm-swift
About Realm Database Realm is a mobile database that runs directly inside phones, tablets or wearables. This repository holds the source code for the iOS, macOS, tvOS & watchOS versions of Realm Swift & Realm Objective C. Why Use Realm Intuitive to Developers: Realm’s object oriented data model is simple to learn, doesn’t need an ORM, and lets you write less code. Built for Mobile: Realm is fully featured, lightweight, and efficiently uses memory, disk space, and battery life. Designed for Offline Use: Realm’s local database persists data on disk, so apps work as well offline as they do online. Object Oriented…
read the full realm-swift overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or realm-swift more popular?
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars and realm-swift has 16,601. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and realm-swift free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and realm-swift under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and realm-swift?
etcd is written in Go and realm-swift in Objective-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 realm-swift?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,441 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose realm-swift if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.