head to head · open source
mall vs tinydb
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars, 29,827 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. tinydb has 7,567 stars, 629 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. mall leads on adoption by 1,021% (84,792 vs 7,567 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; tinydb is written in Python under MIT. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, tinydb 8%. tinydb 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 | tinydb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 629 |
| 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 tinydb if
- You want the tinydb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and tinydb 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 tinydb
TinyDB is a lightweight, document oriented database written in pure Python that stores records as dictionaries in a local JSON file, aimed at small applications that would be overwhelmed by a SQL database or an external database server.
read the full tinydb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or tinydb more popular?
mall has 84,792 GitHub stars and tinydb has 7,567. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and tinydb free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tinydb under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and tinydb?
mall is written in Java and tinydb in Python. 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 tinydb?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,792 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tinydb if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.