head to head · open source
helix-foundry vs Addax
helix-foundry has 1,992 GitHub stars, 294 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Addax has 1,453 stars, 342 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. helix-foundry leads on adoption by 37% (1,992 vs 1,453 stars). helix-foundry is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Addax is written in Java under Apache-2.0. helix-foundry has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Addax 24%. helix-foundry was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| helix-foundry | Addax | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.0K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 294 | ⑂ 342 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick helix-foundry if
- You weight community size — 2.0K 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 Addax if
- You want the Addax 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 Addax fits your workflow better
About helix-foundry
Helix Foundry Connect your company's data, let an agent draft an ontology over it, and load it into HelixDB as one connected graph you can explore and ask questions of. Connect PostgreSQL, MySQL, Amazon S3, Stripe, PostHog, WorkOS, GitHub, Linear, Granola and Cal.com, and upload documents (Markdown, text, PDF) and table files (CSV, TSV, JSON, JSON Lines, Parquet). An agent drafts the ontology: types, links, the tables and documents each comes from, and rules. You review it, edit it and make a version current. A load writes the version into HelixDB. Explore it as a graph or as records, follow every value back to…
read the full helix-foundry overview →
About Addax
Addax A versatile open source ETL tool Addax is an extensible ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool supporting over 20 SQL/NoSQL data sources, forked from Alibaba's DataX , which has been frozen since 2023 — Addax is its actively maintained successor. It provides a growing ecosystem of plugins and offers easy to follow configuration for data integrations. 简体中文 🚀 Features Supports 20+ SQL and NoSQL data sources, and easily extendable for more. Configurable via simple JSON based job descriptions. Actively maintained with improved architecture and added functionality compared to DataX. Docker images for quick…
read the full Addax overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is helix-foundry or Addax more popular?
helix-foundry has 1,992 GitHub stars and Addax has 1,453. helix-foundry has the larger community by that measure.
Are helix-foundry and Addax free?
Both are open source. helix-foundry is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Addax under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between helix-foundry and Addax?
helix-foundry is written in Go and Addax 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, helix-foundry or Addax?
Choose helix-foundry if you want the larger community (1,992 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Addax if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.