head to head · open source
fastapi vs api-platform
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars, 10,179 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. api-platform has 9,199 stars, 967 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastapi leads on adoption by 1,037% (104,566 vs 9,199 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; api-platform is written in PHP under MIT. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, api-platform 11%. fastapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (api, framework), 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
| fastapi | api-platform | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 105K | ★ 9.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 967 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick fastapi if
- You weight community size — 105K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick api-platform if
- You want the api-platform feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and api-platform fits your workflow better
About fastapi
FastAPI framework, high performance, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for production Documentation : Source Code : FastAPI is a modern, fast (high performance), web framework for building APIs with Python based on standard Python type hints. The key features are: Fast : Very high performance, on par with NodeJS and Go (thanks to Starlette and Pydantic). One of the fastest Python frameworks available. Fast to code : Increase the speed to develop features by about 200% to 300%. Fewer bugs : Reduce about 40% of human (developer) induced errors. Intuitive : Great editor support. Completion everywhere. Less time…
read the full fastapi overview →
About api-platform
API Platform is a next generation web framework designed to easily create API first projects without compromising extensibility and flexibility: Design your own data model as plain old PHP classes or import an existing ontology . Expose in minutes a hypermedia REST or a GraphQL API with pagination, data validation, access control, relation embedding, filters, and error handling... Benefit from Content Negotiation: GraphQL, JSON LD, Hydra, HAL, JSON:API, YAML, JSON, XML and CSV are supported out of the box. Enjoy the beautiful automatically generated API documentation (OpenAPI). Add a convenient Material Design…
read the full api-platform overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or api-platform more popular?
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars and api-platform has 9,199. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and api-platform free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and api-platform under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and api-platform?
fastapi is written in Python and api-platform in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, fastapi or api-platform?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (104,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose api-platform if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.