head to head · open source
TiDB vs OceanBase
TiDB has 40,699 GitHub stars, 6,285 forks, 6,976 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OceanBase has 10,362 stars, 1,930 forks, 599 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. TiDB leads on adoption by 293% (40,699 vs 10,362 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 | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 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 TiDB (/’taɪdiːbi:/, "Ti" stands for Titanium) is an open source, cloud native, distributed SQL database designed for high availability, horizontal and vertical scalability, strong consistency, and high performance. Key Features Quick Start Need Help? Architecture Contributing License See Also Acknowledgments Key Features Distributed Transactions : TiDB uses a two phase commit protocol to ensure ACID compliance, providing strong consistency. Transactions span multiple nodes, and TiDB's distributed nature ensures data correctness even in the presence of network partitions or node failures. Horizontal and…
About OceanBase
English 中文版 OceanBase Database is a distributed relational database. It is developed entirely by Ant Group. The OceanBase Database is built on a common server cluster. Based on the Paxos protocol and its distributed structure, the OceanBase Database provides high availability and linear scalability. The OceanBase Database is not dependent on specific hardware architectures. Key features Transparent Scalability : 1,500 nodes, PB data and a trillion rows of records in one cluster. Ultra fast Performance : TPC C 707 million tmpC and TPC H 15.26 million QphH @30000GB. Cost Efficiency : saves 70%–90% of storage…
read the full OceanBase overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is TiDB or OceanBase more popular?
TiDB has 40,699 GitHub stars and OceanBase has 10,362. 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 (40,699 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.