head to head · open source
Milvus vs graphqlite
Milvus has 46,665 GitHub stars, 4,332 forks, 1,405 open issues and last shipped today. graphqlite has 532 stars, 34 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Milvus leads on adoption by 8,672% (46,665 vs 532 stars). Milvus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; graphqlite is written in C under MIT. Milvus has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, graphqlite 6%. Milvus 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
| Milvus | graphqlite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 532 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-15 | 2026-11-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.3K | ⑂ 34 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Milvus if
- You weight community size — 47K 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 graphqlite if
- You want the graphqlite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and graphqlite fits your workflow better
About Milvus
What is Milvus? 🐦 Milvus is a high performance vector database built for scale. It powers AI applications by efficiently organizing and searching vast amounts of unstructured data, such as text, images, and multi modal information. 🧑💻 Written in Go and C++, Milvus implements hardware acceleration for CPU/GPU to achieve best in class vector search performance. Thanks to its fully distributed and K8s native architecture, Milvus can scale horizontally, handle tens of thousands of search queries on billions of vectors, and keep data fresh with real time streaming updates. Milvus also supports Standalone mode for…
read the full Milvus overview →
About graphqlite
GraphQLite An SQLite extension that adds graph database capabilities using the Cypher query language. Store and query graph data directly in SQLite—combining the simplicity of a single file, zero config embedded database with Cypher's expressive power for modeling relationships. Installation Quick Start Features Cypher queries — MATCH, CREATE, MERGE, SET, DELETE, WITH, UNWIND, RETURN Graph algorithms — PageRank, Louvain, Dijkstra, BFS/DFS, connected components, and more Zero configuration — Works with any SQLite database, no server required Multiple bindings — Python, Rust, and raw SQL interfaces openCypher…
read the full graphqlite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Milvus or graphqlite more popular?
Milvus has 46,665 GitHub stars and graphqlite has 532. Milvus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Milvus and graphqlite free?
Both are open source. Milvus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and graphqlite under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Milvus and graphqlite?
Milvus is written in Go and graphqlite in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Milvus or graphqlite?
Choose Milvus if you want the larger community (46,665 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose graphqlite if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.