head to head · open source
etcd vs zookeeper
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars, 10,552 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zookeeper has 12,829 stars, 7,326 forks, 242 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 309% (52,441 vs 12,829 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; zookeeper is written in Java under Apache-2.0. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, zookeeper 57%. etcd was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (consensus, database, distributed-database, distributed-systems), 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 | zookeeper | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 7.3K |
| 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 zookeeper if
- You want the zookeeper 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 zookeeper 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 zookeeper
Apache ZooKeeper [![GitHub Actions CI][ciBadge]][ciLink] [![Travis CI][trBadge]][trLink] [![Maven Central][mcBadge]][mcLink] [![License][liBadge]][liLink] For the latest information about Apache ZooKeeper, please visit our website at: and our wiki, at: Packaging/release artifacts Either downloaded from or found in zookeeper assembly/target directory after building the project with maven. apache zookeeper [version].tar.gz Contains all the source files which can be built by running: mvn clean install To generate an aggregated apidocs for zookeeper server and zookeeper jute: mvn javadoc:aggregate (generated files…
read the full zookeeper overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or zookeeper more popular?
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars and zookeeper has 12,829. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and zookeeper free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and zookeeper under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etcd and zookeeper?
etcd is written in Go and zookeeper 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 zookeeper?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,441 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose zookeeper if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.