head to head · open source
NocoDB vs citus
NocoDB has 65,002 GitHub stars, 5,055 forks, 710 open issues and last shipped yesterday. citus has 12,776 stars, 795 forks, 1,075 open issues and last shipped today. NocoDB leads on adoption by 409% (65,002 vs 12,776 stars). NocoDB is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; citus is written in C under AGPL-3.0. NocoDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, citus 6%. citus was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (postgresql), 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
| NocoDB | citus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 65K | ★ 13K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 795 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NocoDB if
- You weight community size — 65K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick citus if
- You want the citus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and citus fits your workflow better
About NocoDB
NocoDB is a free and self hostable open source Airtable alternative that turns an existing relational database into an intuitive spreadsheet interface, built for teams who want no code data management without moving their data into a hosted SaaS product.
read the full NocoDB overview →
About citus
Citus is an AGPL 3.0 licensed PostgreSQL extension, written in C, that turns an ordinary Postgres server into a distributed database for teams whose applications have outgrown a single PostgreSQL node.
read the full citus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NocoDB or citus more popular?
NocoDB has 65,002 GitHub stars and citus has 12,776. NocoDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are NocoDB and citus free?
Both are open source. NocoDB has no licence declared in this registry, and citus is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between NocoDB and citus?
NocoDB is written in TypeScript and citus 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, NocoDB or citus?
Choose NocoDB if you want the larger community (65,002 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose citus if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.