head to head · open source
shardingsphere vs Addax
shardingsphere has 20,800 GitHub stars, 6,900 forks, 197 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Addax has 1,439 stars, 343 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. shardingsphere leads on adoption by 1,345% (20,800 vs 1,439 stars). shardingsphere is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Addax is written in Java under Apache-2.0. shardingsphere has attracted 33% as many forks as stars, Addax 24%. Addax was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| shardingsphere | Addax | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 343 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick shardingsphere if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Addax if
- You want the Addax feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Addax fits your workflow better
About shardingsphere
Apache ShardingSphere is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Java based distributed database ecosystem positioned as Database Plus — a standards and enhancement layer that sits above heterogeneous databases so applications can connect to, govern, and compute across them as if they were one database, aimed at enterprise data architects and developers running sharded, multi database estates.
read the full shardingsphere overview →
About Addax
Addax is an open source, Java based ETL tool for moving data between relational databases, NoSQL stores, file formats, and big data systems. It is an actively maintained fork of Alibaba DataX, which the README describes as frozen since 2023, and it is positioned as the maintained successor for users who need continued updates, dependency fixes, and plugin development in the DataX ecosystem.
read the full Addax overview →
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Data Engineering & Integration projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Data Engineering & Integration field.
Frequently asked questions
Is shardingsphere or Addax more popular?
shardingsphere has 20,800 GitHub stars and Addax has 1,439. shardingsphere has the larger community by that measure.
Are shardingsphere and Addax free?
Both are open source. shardingsphere is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Addax under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between shardingsphere and Addax?
shardingsphere is written in Java and Addax in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, shardingsphere or Addax?
Choose shardingsphere if you want the larger community (20,800 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Addax if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.