head to head · open source
realtime vs Lightdash
realtime has 7,675 GitHub stars, 479 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lightdash has 6,221 stars, 802 forks, 1,018 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. realtime leads on adoption by 23% (7,675 vs 6,221 stars). realtime is written in Elixir under Apache-2.0; Lightdash is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. realtime has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Lightdash 13%. realtime 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
| realtime | Lightdash | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.7K | ★ 6.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Elixir | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 479 | ⑂ 802 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick realtime if
- You weight community size — 7.7K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Elixir
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Lightdash if
- You want the Lightdash feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Lightdash fits your workflow better
About realtime
Supabase Realtime Send ephemeral messages, track and synchronize shared state, and listen to Postgres changes all over WebSockets. Examples · Request Features · Report Bugs Status This repository focuses on version 2 but you can still access the previous version's code and Docker image. For the latest Docker images go to The codebase is under heavy development and the documentation is constantly evolving. Give it a try and let us know what you think by creating an issue. Watch releases of this repo to get notified of updates. And give us a star if you like it! Overview What is this? This is a server built with…
read the full realtime overview →
About Lightdash
Open source Agentic BI for modern data teams Build governed metrics, dashboards, AI agents, and data apps from your context layer. Ship analytics through Git, CI, MCP, and the Lightdash CLI. Why Lightdash Lightdash is the Agentic BI platform for teams that want analytics to move like software. Your context layer defines trusted metrics, joins, permissions, business logic, and caching once, then powers every way people consume data: dashboards, AI agents, data apps, embedded analytics, SDKs, and MCP. Data teams can build and maintain analytics with any AI agent, then use the terminal, pull requests, and CI to…
read the full Lightdash overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is realtime or Lightdash more popular?
realtime has 7,675 GitHub stars and Lightdash has 6,221. realtime has the larger community by that measure.
Are realtime and Lightdash free?
Both are open source. realtime is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Lightdash has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between realtime and Lightdash?
realtime is written in Elixir and Lightdash in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, realtime or Lightdash?
Choose realtime if you want the larger community (7,675 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Lightdash if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.