head to head · open source
postgrest vs node-postgres
postgrest has 27,674 GitHub stars, 1,227 forks, 400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. node-postgres has 13,208 stars, 1,353 forks, 528 open issues and last shipped yesterday. postgrest leads on adoption by 110% (27,674 vs 13,208 stars). postgrest is written in Haskell under MIT; node-postgres is written in JavaScript under MIT. postgrest has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, node-postgres 10%. node-postgres was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (postgres, 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
| postgrest | node-postgres | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 13K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Haskell | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick postgrest if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Haskell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick node-postgres if
- You want the node-postgres feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and node-postgres fits your workflow better
About postgrest
PostgREST is a Haskell written server that serves a fully RESTful API from any existing PostgreSQL database, and it is aimed at developers, database administrators, and operators who want a standards compliant HTTP API without writing and maintaining one from scratch.
read the full postgrest overview →
About node-postgres
node postgres is an MIT licensed, non blocking PostgreSQL client for Node.js — and for bun, deno, cloudflare and comparable runtimes — built for JavaScript developers who need application code to speak to a PostgreSQL database.
read the full node-postgres overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is postgrest or node-postgres more popular?
postgrest has 27,674 GitHub stars and node-postgres has 13,208. postgrest has the larger community by that measure.
Are postgrest and node-postgres free?
Both are open source. postgrest is licensed under MIT and node-postgres under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between postgrest and node-postgres?
postgrest is written in Haskell and node-postgres 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, postgrest or node-postgres?
Choose postgrest if you want the larger community (27,674 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose node-postgres if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.