head to head · open source
mall vs dbgate
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars, 29,827 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. dbgate has 7,314 stars, 474 forks, 461 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mall leads on adoption by 1,059% (84,792 vs 7,314 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; dbgate is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, dbgate 6%. dbgate 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
| mall | dbgate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 474 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mall if
- You weight community size — 85K 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 dbgate if
- You want the dbgate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and dbgate fits your workflow better
About mall
mall is a complete e commerce system built on Spring Boot and MyBatis, distributed as a Java project under the Apache 2.0 license. It ships two applications in one repository: a storefront system for shoppers and an administrative back office for operators. The storefront covers the home portal, product recommendation, product search, product display, shopping cart, order flow, member center, customer service, and help center. The back office covers product management, order management, member management, promotion management, operations management, content management, statistics reports, finance management, perm…
About dbgate
DbGate is a cross platform, GPL 3.0 licensed database manager for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, SQLite and a dozen further engines, built for developers and data engineers who work with several databases at once and want one client on Windows, Linux, macOS or in a browser.
read the full dbgate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or dbgate more popular?
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars and dbgate has 7,314. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and dbgate free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dbgate under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and dbgate?
mall is written in Java and dbgate in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mall or dbgate?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,792 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dbgate if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.