head to head · open source
nats-server vs ess-helm
nats-server has 20,999 GitHub stars, 2,030 forks, 472 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ess-helm has 999 stars, 154 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nats-server leads on adoption by 2,002% (20,999 vs 999 stars). nats-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0; ess-helm is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. nats-server has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, ess-helm 15%. ess-helm 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
| nats-server | ess-helm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 999 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 154 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nats-server if
- You weight community size — 21K 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 ess-helm if
- You want the ess-helm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and ess-helm fits your workflow better
About nats-server
NATS is a simple, secure and performant communications system for digital systems, services and devices. NATS is part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). NATS has over 40 client language implementations, and its server can run on premise, in the cloud, at the edge, and even on a Raspberry Pi. NATS can secure and simplify design and operation of modern distributed systems. [![License][License Image]][License Url] [![Build][Build Status Image]][Build Status Url] [![Release][Release Image]][Release Url] [![Slack][Slack Image]][Slack Url] [![Coverage][Coverage Image]][Coverage Url] [![Docker…
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About ess-helm
The official Matrix stack from Element for non commercial use Element Server Suite Community Edition (ESS Community) allows you to deploy a Matrix stack using the provided Helm charts and a Kubernetes distribution of your choice, even if you don't have Kubernetes knowledge. It is provided for non commercial community use cases with quality in mind and aims to be as easy to use as possible. ESS Community enables you to very quickly deploy a solid Matrix stack fully supporting Matrix 2.0 and gives you the flexibility to make it your own. Below you will find a quick setup guide that gives you everything needed to…
read the full ess-helm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nats-server or ess-helm more popular?
nats-server has 20,999 GitHub stars and ess-helm has 999. nats-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are nats-server and ess-helm free?
Both are open source. nats-server is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ess-helm under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nats-server and ess-helm?
nats-server is written in Go and ess-helm 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, nats-server or ess-helm?
Choose nats-server if you want the larger community (20,999 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose ess-helm if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.