head to head · open source
etcd vs tinkerpop
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars, 10,552 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tinkerpop has 2,153 stars, 865 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 2,336% (52,441 vs 2,153 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; tinkerpop is written in Java under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, tinkerpop 40%. tinkerpop 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 | tinkerpop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 865 |
| 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 tinkerpop if
- You want the tinkerpop 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 tinkerpop 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 tinkerpop
Apache TinkerPop Apache TinkerPop™ is a graph computing framework for both graph databases (OLTP) and graph analytic systems (OLAP). It provides the Gremlin graph traversal language, drivers, and tools for working with property graphs across a wide variety of underlying data systems. Project overview TinkerPop defines a common interface and language (Gremlin) so that applications can work against many different graph systems without being locked into a single vendor. It includes a reference in‑memory graph database (TinkerGraph), Gremlin Server, language variants, and a rich collection of recipes and…
read the full tinkerpop overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or tinkerpop more popular?
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars and tinkerpop has 2,153. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and tinkerpop free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tinkerpop under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and tinkerpop?
etcd is written in Go and tinkerpop 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 tinkerpop?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,441 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tinkerpop if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.