head to head · open source
etcd vs sqlit
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,506 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sqlit has 4,839 stars, 165 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. etcd leads on adoption by 980% (52,270 vs 4,839 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; sqlit is written in Python under MIT. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, sqlit 3%. 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 | sqlit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 165 |
| 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 sqlit if
- You want the sqlit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and sqlit 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 sqlit
sqlit is a free, MIT licensed terminal user interface for SQL databases, written in Python, that lets a developer connect to a database and run queries from the command line in seconds — it is built for developers who want database access without a heavyweight GUI.
read the full sqlit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or sqlit more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and sqlit has 4,839. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and sqlit free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sqlit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and sqlit?
etcd is written in Go and sqlit in Python. 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 sqlit?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose sqlit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.