head to head · open source
seatunnel vs flink-cdc
seatunnel has 9,784 GitHub stars, 2,456 forks, 705 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. flink-cdc has 6,491 stars, 2,205 forks, 119 open issues and last shipped yesterday. seatunnel leads on adoption by 51% (9,784 vs 6,491 stars). seatunnel is written in Java under Apache-2.0; flink-cdc is written in Java under Apache-2.0. seatunnel has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, flink-cdc 34%. flink-cdc was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (batch, cdc, change-data-capture, data-integration), 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
| seatunnel | flink-cdc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.8K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick seatunnel if
- You weight community size — 9.8K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick flink-cdc if
- You want the flink-cdc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and flink-cdc fits your workflow better
About seatunnel
Apache SeaTunnel Overview SeaTunnel is a multimodal, high performance, distributed data integration tool, capable of synchronizing vast amounts of data daily. It's trusted by numerous companies for its efficiency and stability. Why Choose SeaTunnel SeaTunnel addresses common data integration challenges: Diverse Data Sources : Seamlessly integrates with hundreds of evolving data sources. Multimodal Data Integration : Supports the integration of video, images, binary files, structured and unstructured text data. Complex Synchronization Scenarios : Supports various synchronization methods, including real time, CDC…
read the full seatunnel overview →
About flink-cdc
Flink CDC is a distributed data integration tool for real time data and batch data, built on top of Apache Flink. It prioritizes efficient end to end data integration and offers enhanced functionalities such as full database synchronization, sharding table synchronization, schema evolution and data transformation. API Layers Flink CDC provides three API layers for different usage scenarios: 1. YAML API (Pipeline API) The YAML API provides a declarative, zero code approach to define data pipelines. Users describe the source, sink, routing, transformation, and schema evolution rules in a YAML file and submit it…
read the full flink-cdc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is seatunnel or flink-cdc more popular?
seatunnel has 9,784 GitHub stars and flink-cdc has 6,491. seatunnel has the larger community by that measure.
Are seatunnel and flink-cdc free?
Both are open source. seatunnel is licensed under Apache-2.0 and flink-cdc under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between seatunnel and flink-cdc?
seatunnel is written in Java and flink-cdc in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, seatunnel or flink-cdc?
Choose seatunnel if you want the larger community (9,784 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose flink-cdc if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.