head to head · open source
NocoDB vs knex
NocoDB has 65,408 GitHub stars, 5,131 forks, 710 open issues and last shipped yesterday. knex has 20,341 stars, 2,233 forks, 751 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. NocoDB leads on adoption by 222% (65,408 vs 20,341 stars). NocoDB is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; knex is written in JavaScript under MIT. NocoDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, knex 11%. NocoDB 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 | knex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 65K | ★ 20K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| 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 knex if
- You want the knex feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and knex fits your workflow better
About NocoDB
NocoDB is the fastest and easiest way to build databases online. Website • Discord • Community • Twitter • Reddit • Documentation See other languages » Join Our Community Installation Docker with SQLite Docker with PG Auto upstall Auto upstall is a single command that sets up NocoDB on a server for production usage. Behind the scenes it auto generates docker compose for you. bash bash install.nocodb.com/noco.sh script can be found here in our github Other Methods Binaries are only for quick testing locally. When running locally access nocodb by visiting: For more installation methods, please refer to our docs…
read the full NocoDB overview →
About knex
knex.js A SQL query builder that is flexible , portable , and fun to use! A batteries included, multi dialect (PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MySQL, CockroachDB, MSSQL, SQLite3, Oracle (including Oracle Wallet Authentication)) query builder for Node.js, featuring: transactions connection pooling streaming queries both a promise and callback API a thorough test suite Node.js versions 16+ are supported. Take a look at the full documentation to get started! Browse the list of plugins and tools built for knex Check out our recipes wiki to search for solutions to some specific problems In case of upgrading from an older…
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Frequently asked questions
Is NocoDB or knex more popular?
NocoDB has 65,408 GitHub stars and knex has 20,341. NocoDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are NocoDB and knex free?
Both are open source. NocoDB has no licence declared in this registry, and knex is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between NocoDB and knex?
NocoDB is written in TypeScript and knex in JavaScript. 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 knex?
Choose NocoDB if you want the larger community (65,408 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose knex if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.