head to head · open source
TiDB vs OceanBase
TiDB has 40,542 GitHub stars, 6,242 forks, 6,976 open issues and last shipped today. OceanBase has 10,281 stars, 1,919 forks, 599 open issues and last shipped today. TiDB leads on adoption by 294% (40,542 vs 10,281 stars). TiDB is written in Go under Apache-2.0; OceanBase is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. TiDB has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, OceanBase 19%. TiDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (cloud-native, database, distributed-database, hacktoberfest), 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
| TiDB | OceanBase | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 10K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| 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 OceanBase if
- You want the OceanBase feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and OceanBase 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 OceanBase
OceanBase is an open source distributed relational database written in C++ and licensed under Apache 2.0. It is developed by Ant Group and built on a common server cluster, using the Paxos protocol and a distributed structure to provide high availability and linear scalability. The project belongs to the MySQL compatible distributed database ecosystem, and its README presents it as a unified engine for demanding workloads.
read the full OceanBase overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is TiDB or OceanBase more popular?
TiDB has 40,542 GitHub stars and OceanBase has 10,281. TiDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are TiDB and OceanBase free?
Both are open source. TiDB is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OceanBase under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between TiDB and OceanBase?
TiDB is written in Go and OceanBase 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 OceanBase?
Choose TiDB if you want the larger community (40,542 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OceanBase if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.