head to head · open source
parse-server vs Apache Pinot
parse-server has 21,397 GitHub stars, 4,813 forks, 561 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache Pinot has 6,171 stars, 1,529 forks, 1,403 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parse-server leads on adoption by 247% (21,397 vs 6,171 stars). parse-server is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; Apache Pinot is written in Java under Apache-2.0. parse-server has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, Apache Pinot 25%. Apache Pinot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| parse-server | Apache Pinot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 6.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick parse-server if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Apache Pinot if
- You want the Apache Pinot 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 Apache Pinot fits your workflow better
About parse-server
[ ][open collective link] [ ][open collective link] Parse Server is an open source backend that can be deployed to any infrastructure that can run Node.js. Parse Server works with the Express web application framework. It can be added to existing web applications, or run by itself. The full documentation for Parse Server is available in the wiki. The Parse Server guide is a good place to get started. An API reference and Cloud Code guide are also available. If you're interested in developing for Parse Server, the Development guide will help you get set up. A big thank you 🙏 to our sponsors and backers who…
read the full parse-server overview →
About Apache Pinot
What is Apache Pinot? Features When should I use Pinot? Contributing to Pinot Apache Pinot YouTube Channel Building Pinot Deploying Pinot to Kubernetes Join the Community Documentation License What is Apache Pinot? Apache Pinot is a real time distributed OLAP datastore, built to deliver scalable real time analytics with low latency. It can ingest from batch data sources (such as Hadoop HDFS, Amazon S3, Azure ADLS, Google Cloud Storage) as well as stream data sources (such as Apache Kafka). Pinot was built by engineers at LinkedIn and Uber and is designed to scale up and out with no upper bound. Performance…
read the full Apache Pinot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parse-server or Apache Pinot more popular?
parse-server has 21,397 GitHub stars and Apache Pinot has 6,171. parse-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are parse-server and Apache Pinot free?
Both are open source. parse-server is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Apache Pinot under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parse-server and Apache Pinot?
parse-server is written in JavaScript and Apache Pinot 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, parse-server or Apache Pinot?
Choose parse-server if you want the larger community (21,397 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Apache Pinot if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.