head to head · open source
shardingsphere vs OpenContracts
shardingsphere has 20,817 GitHub stars, 6,906 forks, 197 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenContracts has 1,530 stars, 198 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped yesterday. shardingsphere leads on adoption by 1,261% (20,817 vs 1,530 stars). shardingsphere is written in Java under Apache-2.0; OpenContracts is written in Python under MIT. shardingsphere has attracted 33% as many forks as stars, OpenContracts 13%. OpenContracts 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 | OpenContracts | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 198 |
| 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 OpenContracts if
- You want the OpenContracts feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and OpenContracts 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 OpenContracts
OpenContracts (Demo) Open source document intelligence you can build on. Point OpenContracts at a repository of documents and get a programmable citation graph — human annotation, structured extraction, AI agents, and a built in MCP server, all behind one API. Self hosted, MIT licensed, and built for teams working at scale. Same graph, three surfaces: a GraphQL + REST API for your apps, a Model Context Protocol server for your agents, and a React UI for your team. From documents to a citation graph — in about a minute Create a corpus, drop in your documents, and click Set up . That one click installs the…
read the full OpenContracts overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is shardingsphere or OpenContracts more popular?
shardingsphere has 20,817 GitHub stars and OpenContracts has 1,530. shardingsphere has the larger community by that measure.
Are shardingsphere and OpenContracts free?
Both are open source. shardingsphere is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenContracts under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between shardingsphere and OpenContracts?
shardingsphere is written in Java and OpenContracts in Python. 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 OpenContracts?
Choose shardingsphere if you want the larger community (20,817 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenContracts if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.