head to head · open source
shardingsphere vs helix-foundry
shardingsphere has 20,817 GitHub stars, 6,908 forks, 197 open issues and last shipped yesterday. helix-foundry has 1,680 stars, 257 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped yesterday. shardingsphere leads on adoption by 1,139% (20,817 vs 1,680 stars). shardingsphere is written in Java under Apache-2.0; helix-foundry is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. shardingsphere has attracted 33% as many forks as stars, helix-foundry 15%. shardingsphere 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
| shardingsphere | helix-foundry | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 257 |
| 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 helix-foundry if
- You want the helix-foundry 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 helix-foundry fits your workflow better
About shardingsphere
Apache ShardingSphere Enterprise Distributed Database Ecosystem Building the standards and ecosystem on top of heterogeneous databases, empowering enterprise data architecture transformation Official Website: OVERVIEW Apache ShardingSphere is positioned as Database Plus , a standard and ecosystem built on top of heterogeneous databases. As an operating system layer above databases, ShardingSphere does not create new databases but focuses on maximizing the computing capabilities of existing databases, providing unified data access and enhanced computing capabilities. Database Plus Core Concept : By building a…
read the full shardingsphere overview →
About helix-foundry
Helix Foundry Connect your company's data, let an agent draft an ontology over it, and load it into HelixDB as one connected graph you can explore and ask questions of. Connect PostgreSQL, MySQL, Amazon S3, Stripe, PostHog, WorkOS, GitHub, Linear, Granola and Cal.com, and upload documents (Markdown, text, PDF) and table files (CSV, TSV, JSON, JSON Lines, Parquet). An agent drafts the ontology: types, links, the tables and documents each comes from, and rules. You review it, edit it and make a version current. A load writes the version into HelixDB. Explore it as a graph or as records, follow every value back to…
read the full helix-foundry overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is shardingsphere or helix-foundry more popular?
shardingsphere has 20,817 GitHub stars and helix-foundry has 1,680. shardingsphere has the larger community by that measure.
Are shardingsphere and helix-foundry free?
Both are open source. shardingsphere is licensed under Apache-2.0 and helix-foundry under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between shardingsphere and helix-foundry?
shardingsphere is written in Java and helix-foundry 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, shardingsphere or helix-foundry?
Choose shardingsphere if you want the larger community (20,817 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose helix-foundry if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.