head to head · open source
mall vs postgres
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars, 29,827 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. postgres has 8,730 stars, 374 forks, 303 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. mall leads on adoption by 871% (84,792 vs 8,730 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; postgres is written in JavaScript under Unlicense. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, postgres 4%. mall 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 | postgres | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Unlicense |
| Written in | Java | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 374 |
| 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 postgres if
- You want the postgres feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Unlicense license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and postgres 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 postgres
Postgres.js is a full featured PostgreSQL client for JavaScript and TypeScript runtimes — Node.js, Deno, Bun and Cloudflare — published to npm as postgres , and it is aimed at developers who need to query a PostgreSQL database from application code without adopting a heavier ORM or query builder.
read the full postgres overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or postgres more popular?
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars and postgres has 8,730. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and postgres free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and postgres under Unlicense. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and postgres?
mall is written in Java and postgres 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 postgres?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,792 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose postgres if its feature set, stack or Unlicense licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.