head to head · open source
drawDB vs rxdb
drawDB has 39,590 GitHub stars, 3,253 forks, 241 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. rxdb has 23,386 stars, 1,175 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. drawDB leads on adoption by 69% (39,590 vs 23,386 stars). drawDB is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; rxdb is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. drawDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, rxdb 5%. rxdb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (database, indexeddb), 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
| drawDB | rxdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 23K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick drawDB if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rxdb if
- You want the rxdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and rxdb fits your workflow better
About drawDB
drawDB is a free, open source, browser based database entity relationship diagram (ERD) editor and SQL generator for developers, data modellers, and teams who need to design database schemas and turn them into SQL scripts without creating an account.
read the full drawDB overview →
About rxdb
RxDB is a local first, reactive NoSQL database for JavaScript applications, aimed at developers building offline capable or realtime user interfaces who want client side data storage and sync through their own backend rather than a hosted vendor.
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Frequently asked questions
Is drawDB or rxdb more popular?
drawDB has 39,590 GitHub stars and rxdb has 23,386. drawDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are drawDB and rxdb free?
Both are open source. drawDB is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and rxdb under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between drawDB and rxdb?
drawDB is written in JavaScript and rxdb in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, drawDB or rxdb?
Choose drawDB if you want the larger community (39,590 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose rxdb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.