head to head · open source
liam vs schemaspy
liam has 5,161 GitHub stars, 242 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. schemaspy has 3,736 stars, 357 forks, 303 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. liam leads on adoption by 38% (5,161 vs 3,736 stars). liam is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; schemaspy is written in HTML under LGPL-3.0. liam has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, schemaspy 10%. liam was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (database, documentation, entity-relationship-diagram, er-diagram), 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
| liam | schemaspy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.2K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-03-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 242 | ⑂ 357 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick liam if
- You weight community size — 5.2K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick schemaspy if
- You want the schemaspy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and schemaspy fits your workflow better
About liam
Automatically generates beautiful and easy to read ER diagrams from your database. Website • Documentation • Roadmap What's Liam ERD? Liam ERD generates beautiful, interactive ER diagrams from your database. Whether you're working on public or private repositories, Liam ERD helps you visualize complex schemas with ease. Beautiful UI & Interactive : A clean design and intuitive features (like panning, zooming, and filtering) make it easy to understand even the most complex databases. Simple Reverse Engineering : Seamlessly turn your existing database schemas into clear, readable diagrams. Effortless Setup : Get…
About schemaspy
SchemaSpy is a database metadata analyzer. It helps your database administrators and developers visualize, navigate and understand your data model. With an easy to use HTML based report, traversing the entity relationship diagram has never been simpler. Our product showcase is available at Installation SchemaSpy is a standalone application without GUI. Just download the latest JAR file or Docker image and you're ready to go! To use SchemaSpy from Maven, please see the Maven chapter below. For unreleased bug fixes and features in progress, download our snapshot JAR or use Docker tag snapshot Maven SchemaSpy…
read the full schemaspy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is liam or schemaspy more popular?
liam has 5,161 GitHub stars and schemaspy has 3,736. liam has the larger community by that measure.
Are liam and schemaspy free?
Both are open source. liam is licensed under Apache-2.0 and schemaspy under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between liam and schemaspy?
liam is written in TypeScript and schemaspy in HTML. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, liam or schemaspy?
Choose liam if you want the larger community (5,161 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose schemaspy if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.