head to head · open source
whodb vs helix-foundry
whodb has 5,043 GitHub stars, 239 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped yesterday. helix-foundry has 1,680 stars, 257 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped yesterday. whodb leads on adoption by 200% (5,043 vs 1,680 stars). whodb is written in Go under Apache-2.0; helix-foundry is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. whodb has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, helix-foundry 15%. helix-foundry was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (data-integration), 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
| whodb | helix-foundry | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.0K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 239 | ⑂ 257 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick whodb if
- You weight community size — 5.0K 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 helix-foundry if
- You want the helix-foundry feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and helix-foundry fits your workflow better
About whodb
WhoDB A lightweight, self hosted workspace for your databases Available on Quick start · Documentation · Live demo · Community WhoDB gives you one place to explore your databases, edit data, run queries, and understand how a schema fits together. It runs in the browser, is easy to self host, and is available as a desktop app or terminal CLI too. Use it when you want to inspect a local database, help a teammate explore unfamiliar data, or work without installing a heavyweight database client. AI features are optional: connect Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, LM Studio, or another OpenAI compatible provider if you want…
read the full whodb overview →
About helix-foundry
Helix Foundry Connect your company's data, let an agent draft an ontology over it, and load it into HelixDB as one connected graph you can explore and ask questions of. Connect PostgreSQL, MySQL, Amazon S3, Stripe, PostHog, WorkOS, GitHub, Linear, Granola and Cal.com, and upload documents (Markdown, text, PDF) and table files (CSV, TSV, JSON, JSON Lines, Parquet). An agent drafts the ontology: types, links, the tables and documents each comes from, and rules. You review it, edit it and make a version current. A load writes the version into HelixDB. Explore it as a graph or as records, follow every value back to…
read the full helix-foundry overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is whodb or helix-foundry more popular?
whodb has 5,043 GitHub stars and helix-foundry has 1,680. whodb has the larger community by that measure.
Are whodb and helix-foundry free?
Both are open source. whodb is licensed under Apache-2.0 and helix-foundry under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between whodb and helix-foundry?
whodb is written in Go and helix-foundry in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, whodb or helix-foundry?
Choose whodb if you want the larger community (5,043 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose helix-foundry if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.