head to head · open source
fastapi vs elements
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars, 9,906 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. elements has 2,464 stars, 260 forks, 276 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. fastapi leads on adoption by 4,056% (102,409 vs 2,464 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; elements is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, elements 11%. elements was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (api, openapi, openapi3), 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 | elements | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 102K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 260 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick fastapi if
- You weight community size — 102K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick elements if
- You want the elements feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and elements fits your workflow better
About fastapi
FastAPI is an MIT licensed, high performance Python web framework for building APIs with standard Python type hints, aimed at Python developers and teams that need production ready HTTP services with automatic OpenAPI documentation.
read the full fastapi overview →
About elements
[ ][elements landing page] [![CircleCI][circle ci image]][circle ci] [![NPM Downloads][circle ci image]][npm] [ ][stoplight forest] Beautiful API documentation powered by OpenAPI and Markdown. Use these UI components to create API reference documentation, or more complete documentation with Markdown articles covering tutorials, how to guides, etc. Available as React Components, or Web Components, you can use Elements all together to build beautiful three column "Stripe esque" documentation, or stacked documentation thats easier for integrating into existing Content Management Systems with their own navigation. Ov…
read the full elements overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or elements more popular?
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars and elements has 2,464. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and elements free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and elements under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and elements?
fastapi is written in Python and elements in TypeScript. 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 elements?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (102,409 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose elements if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.