head to head · open source
fastapi vs octelium
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars, 10,179 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. octelium has 4,151 stars, 159 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastapi leads on adoption by 2,419% (104,566 vs 4,151 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; octelium is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, octelium 4%. octelium was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | octelium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 105K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 159 |
| 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 octelium if
- You want the octelium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and octelium 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 octelium
Octelium Table of Contents What is Octelium? Use Cases Main Features Try Octelium in a Codespace Install CLI Tools Install your First Cluster Useful Links License Support Frequently Asked Questions Legal What is Octelium? Octelium is a free and open source, self hosted, unified zero trust secure access platform that is flexible enough to operate as a modern zero config remote access VPN, a comprehensive Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)/BeyondCorp platform, an ngrok/Cloudflare Tunnel alternative, an API gateway, an AI/LLM gateway, a scalable infrastructure for access and deployment to build MCP gateways and AI…
read the full octelium overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or octelium more popular?
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars and octelium has 4,151. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and octelium free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and octelium under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and octelium?
fastapi is written in Python and octelium in Go. 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 octelium?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (104,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose octelium if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.