# polar vs tidb

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | polar | tidb |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 | 80/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #4 of 38 in Databases |
| GitHub stars | 10 437 | 40 687 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +158 ✓ | +100 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 2 ✓ |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ | v8.5.8 · 27 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

tidb scores 80/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.

tidb ships more often: 2 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

## Details

- [polar](https://selfhost.directory/project/polar) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/polar.md)
- [tidb](https://selfhost.directory/project/tidb) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/tidb.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/polar-vs-tidb