head to head · open source
nats-server vs webrtc
nats-server has 20,989 GitHub stars, 2,025 forks, 472 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webrtc has 16,874 stars, 1,916 forks, 125 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nats-server leads on adoption by 24% (20,989 vs 16,874 stars). nats-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0; webrtc is written in Go under MIT. nats-server has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, webrtc 11%. webrtc was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (go, golang), 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
| nats-server | webrtc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nats-server if
- You weight community size — 21K 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 webrtc if
- You want the webrtc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and webrtc fits your workflow better
About nats-server
NATS is a simple, secure and performant communications system for digital systems, services and devices. NATS is part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). NATS has over 40 client language implementations, and its server can run on premise, in the cloud, at the edge, and even on a Raspberry Pi. NATS can secure and simplify design and operation of modern distributed systems. [![License][License Image]][License Url] [![Build][Build Status Image]][Build Status Url] [![Release][Release Image]][Release Url] [![Slack][Slack Image]][Slack Url] [![Coverage][Coverage Image]][Coverage Url] [![Docker…
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About webrtc
Pion WebRTC A pure Go implementation of the WebRTC API New Release Pion WebRTC v4.0.0 has been released! See the release notes to learn about new features and breaking changes. If you aren't able to upgrade yet check the tags for the latest v3 release. We would love your feedback! Please create GitHub issues or Join the Discord to follow development and speak with the maintainers. Usage Go Modules are mandatory for using Pion WebRTC. So make sure you set export GO111MODULE=on , and explicitly specify /v4 (or an earlier version) when importing. example applications contains code samples of common things people…
read the full webrtc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nats-server or webrtc more popular?
nats-server has 20,989 GitHub stars and webrtc has 16,874. nats-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are nats-server and webrtc free?
Both are open source. nats-server is licensed under Apache-2.0 and webrtc under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nats-server and webrtc?
nats-server is written in Go and webrtc in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nats-server or webrtc?
Choose nats-server if you want the larger community (20,989 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose webrtc if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.