head to head · open source
rustfs vs parse-server
rustfs has 33,108 GitHub stars, 1,482 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parse-server has 21,409 stars, 4,807 forks, 561 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. rustfs leads on adoption by 55% (33,108 vs 21,409 stars). rustfs is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; parse-server is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. rustfs has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, parse-server 22%. rustfs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (object-storage), 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 | parse-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 21K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 4.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rustfs if
- You weight community size — 33K 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 parse-server if
- You want the parse-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and parse-server 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 parse-server
Parse Server is an open source backend, built for Node.js and the Express web application framework, that can be deployed to any infrastructure able to run Node.js and that serves applications written against the Parse Platform.
read the full parse-server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rustfs or parse-server more popular?
rustfs has 33,108 GitHub stars and parse-server has 21,409. rustfs has the larger community by that measure.
Are rustfs and parse-server free?
Both are open source. rustfs is licensed under Apache-2.0 and parse-server under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rustfs and parse-server?
rustfs is written in Rust and parse-server in JavaScript. 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 parse-server?
Choose rustfs if you want the larger community (33,108 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose parse-server if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.