head to head · open source
operating-system vs CrateDB
operating-system has 7,492 GitHub stars, 1,293 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. CrateDB has 4,438 stars, 618 forks, 332 open issues and last shipped yesterday. operating-system leads on adoption by 69% (7,492 vs 4,438 stars). operating-system is written in Python under Apache-2.0; CrateDB is written in Java under Apache-2.0. operating-system has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, CrateDB 14%. CrateDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (iot), 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
| operating-system | CrateDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.5K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 618 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick operating-system if
- You weight community size — 7.5K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick CrateDB if
- You want the CrateDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and CrateDB fits your workflow better
About operating-system
The Home Assistant Operating System is a Linux based operating system built specifically to host Home Assistant and its Apps, intended for people running Home Assistant on a single board computer such as a Raspberry Pi or ODROID, or on an x86 64 machine with UEFI firmware.
read the full operating-system overview →
About CrateDB
CrateDB is a distributed, scalable SQL database built for storing and analyzing massive amounts of data in near real time, including complex queries. It is written in Java, licensed under Apache 2.0, and based on Lucene. The project combines the benefits of an SQL database with the scalability and flexibility typically associated with NoSQL databases, and it is PostgreSQL compatible, speaking the PostgreSQL wire protocol as well as offering an HTTP API. It lives in the analytics, big data, and IoT ecosystem, and the topic list places it alongside distributed SQL databases, Elasticsearch, industrial IoT, and IoT a…
read the full CrateDB overview →
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Related comparisons
More Internet of Things (IoT) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Internet of Things (IoT) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is operating-system or CrateDB more popular?
operating-system has 7,492 GitHub stars and CrateDB has 4,438. operating-system has the larger community by that measure.
Are operating-system and CrateDB free?
Both are open source. operating-system is licensed under Apache-2.0 and CrateDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between operating-system and CrateDB?
operating-system is written in Python and CrateDB in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, operating-system or CrateDB?
Choose operating-system if you want the larger community (7,492 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose CrateDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.