head to head · open source
fastapi vs prest
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars, 10,179 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. prest has 4,630 stars, 324 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. fastapi leads on adoption by 2,158% (104,566 vs 4,630 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; prest is written in Go under MIT. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, prest 7%. fastapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api), 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 | prest | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 105K | ★ 4.6K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 324 |
| 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 prest if
- You want the prest feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and prest 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 prest
pRESTd p REST ( P ostgreSQL REST ) is a production ready API that delivers instant REST and Model Context Protocol (MCP) APIs on top of your existing or new Postgres database—CRUD, custom SQL routes, auth, ACL, and a read only MCP endpoint—without hand writing a backend. PostgreSQL version 9.5 or higher Contributor License Agreement — Documentation Full documentation lives at docs.prestd.com. Quick start Install and run options (Docker, Homebrew, or Go) are documented in Get pREST. Point pREST at Postgres ( PREST PG URL or pg. / DATABASE URL ), then call: See Configuring pREST for auth, ACL, custom queries, and…
read the full prest overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or prest more popular?
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars and prest has 4,630. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and prest free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and prest under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and prest?
fastapi is written in Python and prest 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 prest?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (104,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose prest if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.