head to head · open source
TiDB vs mcp-toolbox
TiDB has 40,701 GitHub stars, 6,284 forks, 6,976 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp-toolbox has 16,792 stars, 1,787 forks, 292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. TiDB leads on adoption by 142% (40,701 vs 16,792 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 | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 TiDB (/’taɪdiːbi:/, "Ti" stands for Titanium) is an open source, cloud native, distributed SQL database designed for high availability, horizontal and vertical scalability, strong consistency, and high performance. Key Features Quick Start Need Help? Architecture Contributing License See Also Acknowledgments Key Features Distributed Transactions : TiDB uses a two phase commit protocol to ensure ACID compliance, providing strong consistency. Transactions span multiple nodes, and TiDB's distributed nature ensures data correctness even in the presence of network partitions or node failures. Horizontal and…
About mcp-toolbox
MCP Toolbox for Databases MCP Toolbox for Databases is an open source Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects your AI agents, IDEs, and applications directly to your enterprise databases. It serves a dual purpose : 1. Ready to use MCP Server (Build Time): Instantly connect Gemini CLI, Google Antigravity, Claude Code, Codex, or other MCP clients to your databases using our prebuilt generic tools . Talk to your data, explore schemas, and generate code without writing boilerplate. 2. Custom Tools Framework (Run Time): A robust framework to build specialized, highly secure AI tools for your production…
read the full mcp-toolbox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is TiDB or mcp-toolbox more popular?
TiDB has 40,701 GitHub stars and mcp-toolbox has 16,792. 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 (40,701 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.