head to head · open source
nebula vs liam
nebula has 12,398 GitHub stars, 1,329 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. liam has 5,116 stars, 239 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nebula leads on adoption by 142% (12,398 vs 5,116 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 | ★ 5.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-08 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 239 |
| 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
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 →
About liam
Liam is an open source TypeScript tool that automatically generates beautiful, interactive ER diagrams from an existing database schema, built for developers and teams who need to read, document, and share the structure of a database without drawing diagrams by hand.
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Frequently asked questions
Is nebula or liam more popular?
nebula has 12,398 GitHub stars and liam has 5,116. 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 (12,398 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.