head to head · open source
rowboat vs dtm
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dtm has 10,919 stars, 997 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 64% (17,914 vs 10,919 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; dtm is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, dtm 9%. rowboat 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
| rowboat | dtm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-01-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 997 |
| 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 dtm if
- You want the dtm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dtm fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat is an open source desktop AI coworker, licensed Apache 2.0 and written in TypeScript, that maintains a memory of your work as a local Markdown knowledge graph and provides built in surfaces — email, notes, browser, code mode, meeting notes — for acting on that memory.
read the full rowboat overview →
About dtm
DTM is a distributed transaction framework that provides cross service eventual data consistency for microservices, with saga, TCC, XA, 2 phase message, outbox, and workflow patterns plus SDKs for Go, Java, PHP, C , Python, and Node.js.
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or dtm more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and dtm has 10,919. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and dtm free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dtm under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and dtm?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and dtm 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 dtm?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (17,914 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dtm if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.