head to head · open source
fastapi vs aws-sam-cli
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars, 10,179 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aws-sam-cli has 6,740 stars, 1,257 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastapi leads on adoption by 1,451% (104,566 vs 6,740 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; aws-sam-cli is written in Python under Apache-2.0. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, aws-sam-cli 19%. fastapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (python), 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 | aws-sam-cli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 105K | ★ 6.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 aws-sam-cli if
- You want the aws-sam-cli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and aws-sam-cli 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 aws-sam-cli
AWS SAM CLI Installation Blogs Videos AWS Docs Roadmap Try It Out Slack Us The AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM) CLI is an open source CLI tool that helps you develop serverless applications containing Lambda functions, Step Functions, API Gateway, EventBridge, SQS, SNS and more. Some of the features it provides are: Initialize serverless applications in minutes with AWS provided infrastructure templates with sam init Compile, build, and package Lambda functions with provided runtimes and with custom Makefile workflows, for zip and image types of Lambda functions with sam build Locally test a Lambda…
read the full aws-sam-cli overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or aws-sam-cli more popular?
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars and aws-sam-cli has 6,740. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and aws-sam-cli free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and aws-sam-cli under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and aws-sam-cli?
fastapi is written in Python and aws-sam-cli 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, fastapi or aws-sam-cli?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (104,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose aws-sam-cli if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.