head to head · open source
TiDB vs HeidiSQL
TiDB has 40,553 GitHub stars, 6,243 forks, 6,976 open issues and last shipped today. HeidiSQL has 6,274 stars, 587 forks, 324 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. TiDB leads on adoption by 546% (40,553 vs 6,274 stars). TiDB is written in Go under Apache-2.0; HeidiSQL is written in Pascal under GPL-2.0. TiDB has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, HeidiSQL 9%. TiDB 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
| TiDB | HeidiSQL | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Pascal |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 587 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick TiDB if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick HeidiSQL if
- You want the HeidiSQL feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Pascal
- You evaluated both and HeidiSQL fits your workflow better
About TiDB
TiDB is an open source, cloud native, distributed SQL database written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, aimed at teams that need ACID transactions, real time analytics, and vector search at scale without data silos.
About HeidiSQL
HeidiSQL is a free, GPL 2.0 licensed graphical client for managing MariaDB, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Interbase and Firebird databases, aimed at developers and database administrators who need to browse, edit and export data without working from a command line.
read the full HeidiSQL overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is TiDB or HeidiSQL more popular?
TiDB has 40,553 GitHub stars and HeidiSQL has 6,274. TiDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are TiDB and HeidiSQL free?
Both are open source. TiDB is licensed under Apache-2.0 and HeidiSQL under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between TiDB and HeidiSQL?
TiDB is written in Go and HeidiSQL in Pascal. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, TiDB or HeidiSQL?
Choose TiDB if you want the larger community (40,553 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose HeidiSQL if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.