head to head · open source
TiDB vs mcp-toolbox
TiDB has 40,541 GitHub stars, 6,242 forks, 6,976 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp-toolbox has 16,443 stars, 1,727 forks, 292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. TiDB leads on adoption by 147% (40,541 vs 16,443 stars). TiDB is written in Go under Apache-2.0; mcp-toolbox is written in Go under Apache-2.0. TiDB has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, mcp-toolbox 11%. TiDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agent, ai, database), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| TiDB | mcp-toolbox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick TiDB if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mcp-toolbox if
- You want the mcp-toolbox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and mcp-toolbox fits your workflow better
About TiDB
TiDB is an open source, cloud native, distributed SQL database written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, aimed at teams that need ACID transactions, real time analytics, and vector search at scale without data silos.
About mcp-toolbox
MCP Toolbox for Databases is an open source Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, that connects AI agents, IDEs, and applications directly to enterprise databases.
read the full mcp-toolbox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is TiDB or mcp-toolbox more popular?
TiDB has 40,541 GitHub stars and mcp-toolbox has 16,443. TiDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are TiDB and mcp-toolbox free?
Both are open source. TiDB is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mcp-toolbox under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between TiDB and mcp-toolbox?
TiDB is written in Go and mcp-toolbox in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, TiDB or mcp-toolbox?
Choose TiDB if you want the larger community (40,541 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mcp-toolbox if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.