head to head · open source
fastapi vs bichon
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars, 10,179 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bichon has 2,064 stars, 90 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastapi leads on adoption by 4,966% (104,566 vs 2,064 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; bichon is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, bichon 4%. fastapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (openapi), 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 | bichon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 105K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 90 |
| 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 bichon if
- You want the bichon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and bichon 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 bichon
BICHON A self hosted email archiving server built in Rust. Download emails from IMAP accounts, builds a full text search index, and serves a REST API with an embedded WebUI. Purpose built for long term preservation, unified cross account search, and programmatic access to archived email. ▶ Click to watch the demo [!NOTE] Bichon is an archiver , not an email client. It does not send, compose, forward, or reply to emails. Its optional SMTP server is for receiving emails only. Contents Features Quick Start Docker (Recommended) Docker Compose Binary Installation Build from Source Configuration Reference Required…
read the full bichon overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or bichon more popular?
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars and bichon has 2,064. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and bichon free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and bichon under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and bichon?
fastapi is written in Python and bichon 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, fastapi or bichon?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (104,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose bichon if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.