head to head · open source
rustfs vs NoKV
rustfs has 34,886 GitHub stars, 1,589 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped today. NoKV has 505 stars, 61 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rustfs leads on adoption by 6,808% (34,886 vs 505 stars). rustfs is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; NoKV is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. rustfs has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, NoKV 12%. rustfs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (object-storage, rust), 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
| rustfs | NoKV | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 505 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 61 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rustfs if
- You weight community size — 35K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick NoKV if
- You want the NoKV 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 NoKV fits your workflow better
About rustfs
RustFS is an open source, S3 compatible, high performance distributed object storage system written in Rust, aimed at teams running data lakes, AI, and big data workloads who want MinIO style operational simplicity without the restrictions of an AGPL licence.
read the full rustfs overview →
About NoKV
NoKV is the state layer for agent sandboxes: a Rust, Apache 2.0 system that keeps declared inputs, code, outputs, logs, and lineage alive after a disposable agent sandbox disappears, built for teams running agent and AI for science pipelines that need durable, versioned, replayable workspaces.
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Frequently asked questions
Is rustfs or NoKV more popular?
rustfs has 34,886 GitHub stars and NoKV has 505. rustfs has the larger community by that measure.
Are rustfs and NoKV free?
Both are open source. rustfs is licensed under Apache-2.0 and NoKV under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rustfs and NoKV?
rustfs is written in Rust and NoKV 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, rustfs or NoKV?
Choose rustfs if you want the larger community (34,886 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose NoKV if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.