head to head · open source
nats-server vs Timeplus
nats-server has 20,745 GitHub stars, 1,962 forks, 472 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Timeplus has 2,260 stars, 112 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nats-server leads on adoption by 818% (20,745 vs 2,260 stars). nats-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Timeplus is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. nats-server has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Timeplus 5%. 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 | Timeplus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 112 |
| 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 Timeplus if
- You want the Timeplus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Timeplus 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 Timeplus
Timeplus Proton is an open source stream processing engine written in C++ and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It is presented as a single binary SQL pipeline engine for real time analytics, observability, ETL, and AI context. It lives in the messaging and event streaming ecosystem, with topic links to Kafka, ClickHouse, Flink, ksqlDB, Iceberg, and observability.
read the full Timeplus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nats-server or Timeplus more popular?
nats-server has 20,745 GitHub stars and Timeplus has 2,260. nats-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are nats-server and Timeplus free?
Both are open source. nats-server is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Timeplus under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nats-server and Timeplus?
nats-server is written in Go and Timeplus 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, nats-server or Timeplus?
Choose nats-server if you want the larger community (20,745 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Timeplus if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.