head to head · open source
nebula vs liam
nebula has 12,466 GitHub stars, 1,343 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. liam has 5,161 stars, 242 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nebula leads on adoption by 142% (12,466 vs 5,161 stars). nebula is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; liam is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. nebula has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, liam 5%. liam was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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
| nebula | liam | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 5.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-08 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 242 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nebula if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick liam if
- You want the liam feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and liam fits your workflow better
About nebula
English 中文 A distributed, scalable, lightning fast graph database NebulaGraph Introduction NebulaGraph is a popular open source graph database that can handle large volumes of data with milliseconds of latency, scale up quickly, and have the ability to perform fast graph analytics. NebulaGraph has been widely used for social media, recommendation systems, knowledge graphs, security, capital flows, AI, etc. See our users. The following lists some of NebulaGraph features: Symmetrically distributed Storage and computing separation Horizontal scalability Strong data consistency by RAFT protocol OpenCypher compatible…
read the full nebula overview →
About liam
Automatically generates beautiful and easy to read ER diagrams from your database. Website • Documentation • Roadmap What's Liam ERD? Liam ERD generates beautiful, interactive ER diagrams from your database. Whether you're working on public or private repositories, Liam ERD helps you visualize complex schemas with ease. Beautiful UI & Interactive : A clean design and intuitive features (like panning, zooming, and filtering) make it easy to understand even the most complex databases. Simple Reverse Engineering : Seamlessly turn your existing database schemas into clear, readable diagrams. Effortless Setup : Get…
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Frequently asked questions
Is nebula or liam more popular?
nebula has 12,466 GitHub stars and liam has 5,161. nebula has the larger community by that measure.
Are nebula and liam free?
Both are open source. nebula is licensed under Apache-2.0 and liam under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nebula and liam?
nebula is written in C++ and liam in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nebula or liam?
Choose nebula if you want the larger community (12,466 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose liam if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.