head to head · open source
TiDB vs Dragonfly
TiDB has 40,542 GitHub stars, 6,242 forks, 6,976 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dragonfly has 31,579 stars, 1,264 forks, 308 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. TiDB leads on adoption by 28% (40,542 vs 31,579 stars). TiDB is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Dragonfly is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. TiDB has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Dragonfly 4%. TiDB 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 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| TiDB | Dragonfly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 32K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick TiDB if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Dragonfly if
- You want the Dragonfly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Dragonfly fits your workflow better
About TiDB
TiDB is an open source, cloud native, distributed SQL database written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, aimed at teams that need ACID transactions, real time analytics, and vector search at scale without data silos.
About Dragonfly
Dragonfly is a C++ in memory data store that speaks the Redis and Memcached APIs, built for teams that want more throughput and lower resource use from an existing cache or key value workload without changing application code.
read the full Dragonfly overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Databases projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Databases field.
Frequently asked questions
Is TiDB or Dragonfly more popular?
TiDB has 40,542 GitHub stars and Dragonfly has 31,579. TiDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are TiDB and Dragonfly free?
Both are open source. TiDB is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Dragonfly has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between TiDB and Dragonfly?
TiDB is written in Go and Dragonfly in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, TiDB or Dragonfly?
Choose TiDB if you want the larger community (40,542 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Dragonfly if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.