head to head · open source
mall vs GRDB.swift
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars, 29,827 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. GRDB.swift has 8,650 stars, 1,046 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. mall leads on adoption by 880% (84,792 vs 8,650 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; GRDB.swift is written in Swift under MIT. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, GRDB.swift 12%. GRDB.swift 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 | GRDB.swift | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 GRDB.swift if
- You want the GRDB.swift feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and GRDB.swift 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 GRDB.swift
GRDB.swift is an MIT licensed Swift toolkit for SQLite databases, focused on application development, for Swift developers who need to store an app's permanent data on iOS, macOS, tvOS, or watchOS without hand writing SQL and raw row handling.
read the full GRDB.swift overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or GRDB.swift more popular?
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars and GRDB.swift has 8,650. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and GRDB.swift free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and GRDB.swift under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and GRDB.swift?
mall is written in Java and GRDB.swift in Swift. 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 GRDB.swift?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,792 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose GRDB.swift if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.