head to head · open source
fastapi vs datamodel-code-generator
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars, 10,179 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. datamodel-code-generator has 4,047 stars, 484 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastapi leads on adoption by 2,484% (104,566 vs 4,047 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; datamodel-code-generator is written in Python under MIT. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, datamodel-code-generator 12%. datamodel-code-generator was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (fastapi, json-schema, 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| fastapi | datamodel-code-generator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 105K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 484 |
| 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 datamodel-code-generator if
- You want the datamodel-code-generator feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and datamodel-code-generator 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 datamodel-code-generator
datamodel code generator 🚀 Generate Python data models from schema definitions in seconds. 📚 Documentation · 🧪 Playground · 💼 Lead maintainer available for work [!NOTE] Playground privacy: Generation runs locally in your browser with Pyodide. Your schema and options are not sent to a backend. Shared repro URLs encode them in the URL fragment ( state=... ), which browsers do not send to the server; the full URL can still be stored in your browser history or wherever you share it. ✨ What it does Pick any one of the supported inputs and pick the Python model style you want as output. input model…
read the full datamodel-code-generator overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More API Development & Testing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the API Development & Testing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or datamodel-code-generator more popular?
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars and datamodel-code-generator has 4,047. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and datamodel-code-generator free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and datamodel-code-generator under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and datamodel-code-generator?
fastapi is written in Python and datamodel-code-generator 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 datamodel-code-generator?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (104,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose datamodel-code-generator if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.