head to head · open source
Docs vs nebula
Docs has 16,838 GitHub stars, 639 forks, 370 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nebula has 12,398 stars, 1,329 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. Docs leads on adoption by 36% (16,838 vs 12,398 stars). Docs is written in Python under MIT; nebula is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. Docs has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, nebula 11%. Docs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (knowledge-base), 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
| Docs | nebula | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 639 | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Docs if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nebula if
- You want the nebula 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 nebula fits your workflow better
About Docs
Docs is an open source collaborative text editor for creating, editing, and sharing documents in real time. It lives in the open source documentation and knowledge base ecosystem, and it is built with Django and React for web native use. The repository describes Docs as a web native editor made for teams that need clean documents and sub documents without surrendering data to a hosted service.
About nebula
NebulaGraph is an open source, distributed graph database written in C++ and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the graph database ecosystem and appears in the CNCF Database Landscape. The project describes itself as symmetrically distributed, with storage and computing separated into distinct layers, horizontal scalability across nodes, strong data consistency enforced through the RAFT protocol, an OpenCypher compatible query language, role based access control, and a set of graph analytics algorithms. It has been developed for roughly eight years and carries 12,387 stars, 1,330 forks, and 678 op…
read the full nebula overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docs or nebula more popular?
Docs has 16,838 GitHub stars and nebula has 12,398. Docs has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docs and nebula free?
Both are open source. Docs is licensed under MIT and nebula under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docs and nebula?
Docs is written in Python and nebula 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, Docs or nebula?
Choose Docs if you want the larger community (16,838 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nebula if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.