head to head · open source
liam vs typedb
liam has 5,161 GitHub stars, 242 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. typedb has 4,500 stars, 376 forks, 310 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. liam leads on adoption by 15% (5,161 vs 4,500 stars). liam is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; typedb is written in Rust under MPL-2.0. liam has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, typedb 8%. liam was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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 | typedb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.2K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 242 | ⑂ 376 |
| 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 typedb if
- You want the typedb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and typedb 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 typedb
Introducing TypeDB TypeDB is a next gen database with a modern programming paradigm that lets you build data applications faster, safer, and more elegantly. Its intuitive and powerful data model unifies the strengths of relational, document and graph databases without their shortcomings. TypeQL , its groundbreaking query language, is declarative, functional, and strongly typed, drastically simplifying data handling and logic. So now, even the most nested and interconnected datasets can be managed with ease. With TypeDB, we’ve reinvented the database for the modern programming era. Getting started Deploy TypeDB…
read the full typedb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is liam or typedb more popular?
liam has 5,161 GitHub stars and typedb has 4,500. liam has the larger community by that measure.
Are liam and typedb free?
Both are open source. liam is licensed under Apache-2.0 and typedb under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between liam and typedb?
liam is written in TypeScript and typedb in Rust. 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 typedb?
Choose liam if you want the larger community (5,161 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose typedb if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.