head to head · open source
etcd vs toydb
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars, 10,506 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. toydb has 7,283 stars, 624 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. etcd leads on adoption by 618% (52,270 vs 7,283 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; toydb is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, toydb 9%. etcd was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (database, raft), 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 | toydb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 624 |
| 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 toydb if
- You want the toydb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and toydb 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 toydb
toyDB is a distributed SQL database written in Rust as an educational project, aimed at developers and students who want to read and run a working system that shows how Raft consensus, MVCC transactions, and a SQL query engine fit together.
read the full toydb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or toydb more popular?
etcd has 52,270 GitHub stars and toydb has 7,283. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and toydb free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and toydb under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and toydb?
etcd is written in Go and toydb in Rust. 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 toydb?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,270 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose toydb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.