head to head · open source
fastapi vs openapi-python-client
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars, 9,906 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. openapi-python-client has 1,993 stars, 293 forks, 120 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. fastapi leads on adoption by 5,038% (102,409 vs 1,993 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; openapi-python-client is written in Python under MIT. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, openapi-python-client 15%. openapi-python-client was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (fastapi, openapi, openapi3, 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 | openapi-python-client | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 102K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 293 |
| 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 openapi-python-client if
- You want the openapi-python-client feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and openapi-python-client 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 openapi-python-client
openapi python client is a command line generator that turns OpenAPI 3.0 and 3.1 documents into modern, type annotated Python client libraries, built for Python developers who consume REST APIs and would rather generate a client from a spec than maintain one by hand.
read the full openapi-python-client overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or openapi-python-client more popular?
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars and openapi-python-client has 1,993. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and openapi-python-client free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and openapi-python-client under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and openapi-python-client?
fastapi is written in Python and openapi-python-client 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 openapi-python-client?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (102,409 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose openapi-python-client if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.