Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Open Collective VS Apache Thrift

Compare Open Collective VS Apache Thrift and see what are their differences

Open Collective logo Open Collective

Recurring funding for groups.

Apache Thrift logo Apache Thrift

An interface definition language and communication protocol for creating cross-language services.
  • Open Collective Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-25
  • Apache Thrift Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-07-12

Open Collective features and specs

  • Transparency
    Open Collective offers transparent accounting and financial reporting, allowing everyone to see how funds are being used.
  • Community Engagement
    It allows communities to come together and support projects they care about with funding, facilitating strong community involvement.
  • Easy Fundraising
    The platform simplifies the process of raising funds for open source projects, non-profits, and other community-driven initiatives.
  • Global Reach
    Open Collective supports contributions from around the world, which can significantly expand the pool of potential donors and supporters.
  • Managed Fiscal Hosting
    It provides fiscal hosting services that handle various financial and administrative tasks, reducing the workload for project maintainers.

Possible disadvantages of Open Collective

  • Fees
    Open Collective charges fees for its services, which can be a downside for projects with limited budgets.
  • Complexity for Small Projects
    For very small projects or initiatives, the platform might be overly complex and offer more features than needed.
  • Dependence on Platform
    Relying solely on Open Collective for funding and financial management might create dependency, limiting flexibility to switch strategies.
  • Geographical Limitations
    While it has global reach, there may be certain countries where donors or users face restrictions or limitations in using the platform.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might find the platform's features and options overwhelming at the start, requiring time to learn and navigate effectively.

Apache Thrift features and specs

  • Cross-Language Support
    Apache Thrift supports numerous programming languages including Java, Python, C++, Ruby, and more, enabling seamless communication between services written in different languages.
  • Efficient Serialization
    Thrift offers efficient binary serialization which helps in reducing the payload size and improves the communication speed between services.
  • Service Definition Flexibility
    Thrift provides a robust interface definition language (IDL) for defining and generating code for services with strict type checking, fostering strong contract interfaces.
  • Scalability
    Due to its lightweight and efficient serialization mechanisms, Apache Thrift can handle a large number of simultaneous client connections, making it suitable for scalable distributed systems.
  • Versioning Support
    Thrift supports service versioning which helps in evolving APIs without disrupting existing services or clients.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Thrift

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For new users, especially those not familiar with RPC frameworks, learning and understanding Thrift’s IDL and operations can be complex and time-consuming.
  • Documentation and Community Support
    Compared to some alternative technologies, Apache Thrift's documentation and community support can be less robust, which might pose challenges in troubleshooting or seeking guidance.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Thrift does not support some advanced features like streaming or multiplexing out of the box, which could limit its use in complex systems requiring these functionalities.
  • Infrastructure Overhead
    Integrating Thrift into an existing system might introduce infrastructure overhead both in initial setup and ongoing maintenance, especially when dealing with multiple languages.
  • Protocol Limitations
    While Thrift is highly efficient, its protocol limitations might require additional workarounds for certain data structures or transport mechanisms, complicating development.

Analysis of Apache Thrift

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Apache Thrift is considered to be a good option for projects needing cross-language communication and efficient serialization. Its efficiency and wide adoption have proven it to be a reliable framework in many production environments.

Why this product is good

  • Apache Thrift is a widely used framework for scalable cross-language services development. It allows for seamless communication between programs written in different languages by providing code generation and serialization capabilities for a variety of languages. Thrift supports an efficient binary protocol and is highly customizable, making it a robust choice for services that require performance and flexibility. Additionally, it's an open-source project under the Apache Software Foundation, which ensures it has a strong community and ongoing updates.

Recommended for

  • Organizations that require cross-language service communication
  • Projects that need high-performance and low-latency data transmission
  • Developers looking for a framework with support for multiple programming languages
  • Teams looking for a customizable serialization protocol

Open Collective videos

What is Open Collective?

Apache Thrift videos

Apache Thrift

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Open Collective and Apache Thrift)
Crowdfunding
100 100%
0% 0
Web Servers
0 0%
100% 100
Fundraising And Donation Management
Web And Application Servers

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Open Collective seems to be a lot more popular than Apache Thrift. While we know about 159 links to Open Collective, we've tracked only 13 mentions of Apache Thrift. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Open Collective mentions (159)

  • Funding in Open Source: A Conversation with Chad Whitacre
    Chad has been leading the Open Source Pledge, a simple framework to get companies to fund the projects they rely on. The idea is straightforward: for every developer your company employs, allocate $2,000 per year to open source. Distribute those funds however you want—GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Thanks.dev, direct payments, etc. The only other ask is to publish a blog post showing what you did. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • None of the top 10 projects in GitHub is actually a software project 🤯
    We see some projects that can financially survive (via sponsor or external infrastructure such as open collective or patreon), favoring the long-term sustainability. Thus, we keep our stand on promoting a transparent governance model to state where the investment will be managed and who can benefit from it, especially when knowing that non-technical users have an increasing key role in these communities. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • Sustainable Funding for Open Source: Navigating Challenges and Emerging Innovations
    Leverage multiple platforms: Utilize GitHub Sponsors along with OpenCollective to broaden funding sources. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • Exploring Open Source Project Sponsorship Opportunities: Enhancing Innovation with Blockchain and NFTs
    Traditionally, open source projects were sustained by volunteer contributions and modest donations. However, as digital infrastructure came to rely on open source software, the need for reliable, scalable funding became evident. Enter corporate sponsorship—a model where companies invest in open source initiatives to secure their technology stacks, attract top talent, and foster innovation. This has spurred the... - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • Innovative Strategies for Open Source Project Funding: A Comprehensive Guide
    Abstract: This post explores various open source project funding strategies and examines their evolution, core concepts, applications, challenges, and future trends. We discuss methods such as sponsorship and donations, crowdfunding, dual licensing, paid services, foundations and grants, and the freemium model. Through real-world examples and a technical yet accessible approach, this guide offers insight into... - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
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Apache Thrift mentions (13)

  • Show HN: TypeSchema – A JSON specification to describe data models
    I once read a paper about Apache/Meta Thrift [1,2]. It allows you to define data types/interfaces in a definition file and generate code for many programming languages. It was specifically designed for RPCs and microservices. [1]: https://thrift.apache.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Delving Deeper: Enriching Microservices with Golang with CloudWeGo
    While gRPC and Apache Thrift have served the microservice architecture well, CloudWeGo's advanced features and performance metrics set it apart as a promising open source solution for the future. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Reddit System Design/Architecture
    Services in general communicate via Thrift (and in some cases HTTP). Source: about 2 years ago
  • Universal type language!
    Protocol Buffers is the most popular one, but there are many others such as Apache Thrift and my own Typical. Source: over 2 years ago
  • You worked on it? Why is it slow then?
    RPC is not strictly OO, but you can think of RPC calls like method calls. In general it will reflect your interface design and doesn't have to be top-down, although a good project usually will look that way. A good contrast to REST where you use POST/PUT/GET/DELETE pattern on resources where as a procedure call could be a lot more flexible and potentially lighter weight. Think of it like defining methods in code... Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Open Collective and Apache Thrift, you can also consider the following products

GitHub Sponsors - Get paid to build what you love on GitHub

Docker Hub - Docker Hub is a cloud-based registry service

Liberapay - Liberapay is a recurrent donations platform.

Eureka - Eureka is a contact center and enterprise performance through speech analytics that immediately reveals insights from automated analysis of communications including calls, chat, email, texts, social media, surveys and more.

Patreon - Patreon enables fans to give ongoing support to their favorite creators.

gRPC - Application and Data, Languages & Frameworks, Remote Procedure Call (RPC), and Service Discovery