head to head · open source
rowboat vs database-lab-engine
rowboat has 18,126 GitHub stars, 1,816 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. database-lab-engine has 2,786 stars, 90 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 551% (18,126 vs 2,786 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; database-lab-engine is written in Go under Apache-2.0. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, database-lab-engine 3%. rowboat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-agents), 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
| rowboat | database-lab-engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 90 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rowboat if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick database-lab-engine if
- You want the database-lab-engine 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 database-lab-engine fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat A desktop AI coworker with a memory of your work and built in surfaces to act on it. 简体中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português Rowboat indexes your work into a living knowledge graph and uses that to get work done on your machine. It includes work surfaces for collaborating with AI: email client, notes, browser, code mode, meeting note taker, and workspaces for different projects. Download latest for Mac/Windows/Linux: Download Demo apps to code · Demo knowledge graph ⭐ If you find Rowboat useful, please star the repo. It helps more people find it. Overview Brain Rowboat indexes email, meetings…
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About database-lab-engine
Deutsch Português (BR) Русский Español Українська DBLab Engine ⚡ Blazing fast PostgreSQL cloning and branching 🐘 🛠️ Build powerful dev/test environments. 🔃 Cover 100% of DB migrations with CI tests. 💡 Quickly verify ChatGPT ideas to get rid of hallucinations. Available for any PostgreSQL, including self managed and managed services like AWS RDS, GCP Cloud SQL, Supabase, and Timescale. It can be installed and used anywhere: across all cloud environments and on premises. Features Documentation Blog Community & Support Contributing For managed PostgreSQL cloud services like AWS RDS or Heroku, direct physical…
read the full database-lab-engine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or database-lab-engine more popular?
rowboat has 18,126 GitHub stars and database-lab-engine has 2,786. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and database-lab-engine free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and database-lab-engine under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and database-lab-engine?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and database-lab-engine 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, rowboat or database-lab-engine?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (18,126 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose database-lab-engine if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.