head to head · open source
mall vs HelixDB
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars, 29,826 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. HelixDB has 5,915 stars, 350 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mall leads on adoption by 1,333% (84,789 vs 5,915 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; HelixDB is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, HelixDB 6%. HelixDB 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 | HelixDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 5.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 350 |
| 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 HelixDB if
- You want the HelixDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and HelixDB 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 HelixDB
HelixDB is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Rust built OLTP graph database with native vector and full text search that lets teams building AI applications keep knowledge graphs, agent memory and application data in a single self hostable store rather than stitching together separate graph, vector, relational and application databases.
read the full HelixDB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or HelixDB more popular?
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars and HelixDB has 5,915. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and HelixDB free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and HelixDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and HelixDB?
mall is written in Java and HelixDB 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, mall or HelixDB?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,789 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose HelixDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.