head to head · open source
flink-cdc vs Lightdash
flink-cdc has 6,477 GitHub stars, 2,197 forks, 119 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Lightdash has 6,145 stars, 777 forks, 1,018 open issues and last shipped today. flink-cdc leads on adoption by 5% (6,477 vs 6,145 stars). flink-cdc is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Lightdash is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. flink-cdc has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, Lightdash 13%. Lightdash 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
| flink-cdc | Lightdash | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.5K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 777 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick flink-cdc if
- You weight community size — 6.5K 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 Lightdash if
- You want the Lightdash feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Lightdash fits your workflow better
About flink-cdc
Flink CDC is an Apache 2.0 streaming data integration tool built on Apache Flink that moves real time and batch data between databases and downstream systems, and it is aimed at data engineers and platform teams who need change data capture pipelines without writing per source job code.
read the full flink-cdc overview →
About Lightdash
Lightdash is an open source, agentic business intelligence platform for modern data teams, written in TypeScript and distributed under a NOASSERTION license. It lives in the data and analytics ecosystem, specifically the data engineering and integration space, and it is built around dbt and warehouse native workflows. The project describes itself as agentic BI, meaning analytics is intended to move at the speed of code rather than through point and click configuration alone.
read the full Lightdash overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is flink-cdc or Lightdash more popular?
flink-cdc has 6,477 GitHub stars and Lightdash has 6,145. flink-cdc has the larger community by that measure.
Are flink-cdc and Lightdash free?
Both are open source. flink-cdc is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Lightdash has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between flink-cdc and Lightdash?
flink-cdc is written in Java and Lightdash in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, flink-cdc or Lightdash?
Choose flink-cdc if you want the larger community (6,477 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Lightdash if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.