head to head · open source
starrocks vs roapi
starrocks has 12,125 GitHub stars, 2,594 forks, 1,443 open issues and last shipped today. roapi has 3,434 stars, 209 forks, 66 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. starrocks leads on adoption by 253% (12,125 vs 3,434 stars). starrocks is written in Java under Apache-2.0; roapi is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. starrocks has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, roapi 6%. starrocks was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (analytics, delta-lake), 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
| starrocks | roapi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-03-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 209 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick starrocks if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick roapi if
- You want the roapi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and roapi fits your workflow better
About starrocks
StarRocks is an Apache 2.0, Linux Foundation open query engine written in Java that delivers sub second ad hoc and multi dimensional analytics both on and off the data lakehouse, built for data platform teams, analytics engineers, and BI users who need fast SQL over large distributed datasets without moving data or rewriting SQL.
read the full starrocks overview →
About roapi
ROAPI is a Rust based, Apache 2.0 licensed server that turns static and slowly changing datasets into read only SQL, FlightSQL, GraphQL and REST APIs without requiring a single line of application code, and it is built for data engineers, analysts and developers who need to publish Parquet, CSV, JSON or database tables as queryable endpoints quickly.
read the full roapi overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is starrocks or roapi more popular?
starrocks has 12,125 GitHub stars and roapi has 3,434. starrocks has the larger community by that measure.
Are starrocks and roapi free?
Both are open source. starrocks is licensed under Apache-2.0 and roapi under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between starrocks and roapi?
starrocks is written in Java and roapi in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, starrocks or roapi?
Choose starrocks if you want the larger community (12,125 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose roapi if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.