head to head · open source
realtime vs whodb
realtime has 7,675 GitHub stars, 479 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. whodb has 5,049 stars, 241 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped yesterday. realtime leads on adoption by 52% (7,675 vs 5,049 stars). realtime is written in Elixir under Apache-2.0; whodb is written in Go under Apache-2.0. realtime has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, whodb 5%. 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 | whodb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.7K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Elixir | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 479 | ⑂ 241 |
| 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 whodb if
- You want the whodb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and whodb 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 whodb
WhoDB A lightweight, self hosted workspace for your databases Available on Quick start · Documentation · Live demo · Community WhoDB gives you one place to explore your databases, edit data, run queries, and understand how a schema fits together. It runs in the browser, is easy to self host, and is available as a desktop app or terminal CLI too. Use it when you want to inspect a local database, help a teammate explore unfamiliar data, or work without installing a heavyweight database client. AI features are optional: connect Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, LM Studio, or another OpenAI compatible provider if you want…
read the full whodb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is realtime or whodb more popular?
realtime has 7,675 GitHub stars and whodb has 5,049. realtime has the larger community by that measure.
Are realtime and whodb free?
Both are open source. realtime is licensed under Apache-2.0 and whodb under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between realtime and whodb?
realtime is written in Elixir and whodb in Go. 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 whodb?
Choose realtime if you want the larger community (7,675 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose whodb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.