head to head · open source
realtime vs pgsync
realtime has 7,675 GitHub stars, 479 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pgsync has 1,433 stars, 213 forks, 216 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. realtime leads on adoption by 436% (7,675 vs 1,433 stars). realtime is written in Elixir under Apache-2.0; pgsync is written in Python under MIT. realtime has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, pgsync 15%. realtime was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (change-data-capture, 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
| realtime | pgsync | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.7K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Elixir | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 479 | ⑂ 213 |
| 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 pgsync if
- You want the pgsync feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pgsync 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 pgsync
PGSync Real time PostgreSQL to Elasticsearch/OpenSearch sync Keep your relational database as the source of truth while powering lightning fast search Live Demo ↗ · Website · Documentation · Examples · Report Bug What is PGSync? PGSync is a change data capture tool that syncs data from PostgreSQL , MySQL , or MariaDB to Elasticsearch or OpenSearch in real time. Define your document structure in JSON, and PGSync handles the rest — no custom code required. Django integration: Use django pgsync to integrate PGSync with Django projects. PGSync Pro: Add real time semantic and hybrid search to Elasticsearch or…
read the full pgsync overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is realtime or pgsync more popular?
realtime has 7,675 GitHub stars and pgsync has 1,433. realtime has the larger community by that measure.
Are realtime and pgsync free?
Both are open source. realtime is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pgsync under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between realtime and pgsync?
realtime is written in Elixir and pgsync in Python. 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 pgsync?
Choose realtime if you want the larger community (7,675 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pgsync if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.