head to head · open source
one-api vs dreamfactory
one-api has 36,940 GitHub stars, 6,867 forks, 1,036 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. dreamfactory has 1,788 stars, 354 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. one-api leads on adoption by 1,966% (36,940 vs 1,788 stars). one-api is written in JavaScript under MIT; dreamfactory is written in Shell under Apache-2.0. one-api has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, dreamfactory 20%. dreamfactory was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api), 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
| one-api | dreamfactory | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-01-09 | 2026-08-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 354 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick one-api if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dreamfactory if
- You want the dreamfactory feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and dreamfactory fits your workflow better
About one-api
One API is a self hosted LLM API management and key redistribution system that exposes many model providers through the standard OpenAI API format, aimed at developers, teams and operators who want a single endpoint, a single key model and a single quota surface across providers.
read the full one-api overview →
About dreamfactory
DreamFactory is a secure, self hosted enterprise data access platform that generates governed REST and MCP APIs for the databases and file storage an organization already runs, built for enterprise development teams that need role based API access without writing backend code.
read the full dreamfactory overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is one-api or dreamfactory more popular?
one-api has 36,940 GitHub stars and dreamfactory has 1,788. one-api has the larger community by that measure.
Are one-api and dreamfactory free?
Both are open source. one-api is licensed under MIT and dreamfactory under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between one-api and dreamfactory?
one-api is written in JavaScript and dreamfactory in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, one-api or dreamfactory?
Choose one-api if you want the larger community (36,940 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dreamfactory if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.