head to head · open source
OpenViking vs nebula
OpenViking has 39,947 GitHub stars, 3,177 forks, 999 open issues and last shipped today. nebula has 12,432 stars, 1,336 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. OpenViking leads on adoption by 221% (39,947 vs 12,432 stars). OpenViking is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; nebula is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. OpenViking has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, nebula 11%. OpenViking was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (knowledge-base), 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
| OpenViking | nebula | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 12K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-15 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenViking if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nebula if
- You want the nebula feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and nebula fits your workflow better
About OpenViking
OpenViking is an open source context database for AI agents that keeps everything an agent knows — knowledge, memory, and skills — in one virtual filesystem, built for developers and teams who need to inspect and edit what their agent actually stored instead of trusting an opaque embedding index.
read the full OpenViking overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenViking or nebula more popular?
OpenViking has 39,947 GitHub stars and nebula has 12,432. OpenViking has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenViking and nebula free?
Both are open source. OpenViking is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and nebula under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenViking and nebula?
OpenViking is written in Python and nebula 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, OpenViking or nebula?
Choose OpenViking if you want the larger community (39,947 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose nebula if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.