head to head · open source
nats-server vs ess-helm
nats-server has 20,757 GitHub stars, 1,963 forks, 472 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ess-helm has 957 stars, 145 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nats-server leads on adoption by 2,069% (20,757 vs 957 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 9% as many forks as stars, ess-helm 15%. nats-server 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 | ★ 957 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 145 |
| 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 server is the Go based, Apache 2.0 licensed server at the heart of NATS, a simple, secure and performant communications system for digital systems, services and devices, aimed at teams building distributed systems, microservices, and cloud, edge or connected vehicle deployments that need messaging without running heavyweight broker infrastructure.
read the full nats-server overview →
About ess-helm
ess helm is the official Element Matrix stack packaged as Helm charts — Element Server Suite Community Edition (ESS Community) — and it is aimed at non commercial community operators who want a solid Matrix deployment on Kubernetes without deep Kubernetes knowledge.
read the full ess-helm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nats-server or ess-helm more popular?
nats-server has 20,757 GitHub stars and ess-helm has 957. 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 (20,757 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.