This page compares the source lines of code (SLOC) of protocolbuffers/protobuf and google/flatbuffers using cached OctoCounts reports. Code size is not code quality: a larger count only means more source material, not a better or worse project.
As of 2026-09-03, protocolbuffers/protobuf contains 1,124,692 total lines (869,429 code) across 2,850 files, while google/flatbuffers contains 136,190 total lines (101,824 code) across 593 files as of 2026-08-26. protocolbuffers/protobuf is about 8.5x the size of google/flatbuffers by code lines. Code size is not code quality: a larger count only means more source material, not a better or worse project.
| Metric | protocolbuffers/protobuf | google/flatbuffers |
|---|---|---|
| Files | 2,850 | 593 |
| Total lines | 1,124,692 | 136,190 |
| Code lines | 869,429 | 101,824 |
| Comment lines | 135,580 | 19,217 |
| Blank lines | 119,683 | 15,149 |
| Languages counted | 12 | 12 |
Top languages in protocolbuffers/protobuf: C++ (28.8% of code), C# (18.6% of code), C Header (17.0% of code). Top languages in google/flatbuffers: C++ (39.8% of code), C Header (11.6% of code), Rust (10.1% of code). C++, C Header appear in both top language lists; C#, C, Objective-C appear only in protocolbuffers/protobuf's top languages; Rust, Swift, Kotlin appear only in google/flatbuffers's top languages.
Methodology: both counts come from cached OctoCounts reports generated with tokei. protocolbuffers/protobuf was counted at ref main (commit 065d6fabf734) on 2026-09-03; google/flatbuffers was counted at ref master (commit 5761d6e67af8) on 2026-08-26. See the counting methodology for ignored directories and analysis options.
Evidence and next steps:
Note: code size is not code quality. OctoCounts only reports reproducible line counts and makes no claim that either project is better.
protocolbuffers/protobuf has more code: 869,429 code lines versus 101,824 for google/flatbuffers, about 8.5x as much, based on cached OctoCounts reports as of 2026-09-03.
Not necessarily. SLOC measures size, not complexity, quality, or maintainability. A larger codebase can mean more features, more generated or vendored code, more verbose language idioms, or more tests — none of which imply the code is harder to work with. Use SLOC to gauge the scale of what you'd be reading or maintaining, not as a quality signal for protocolbuffers/protobuf, google/flatbuffers, or any repository.
Methodology: both counts come from cached OctoCounts reports generated with tokei. protocolbuffers/protobuf was counted at ref main (commit 065d6fabf734) on 2026-09-03; google/flatbuffers was counted at ref master (commit 5761d6e67af8) on 2026-08-26. See the counting methodology for ignored directories and analysis options.
Yes. This page shows the default branch for each repository. Use the interactive comparison tool to pick any public GitHub repository, branch, tag, or commit SHA for both sides and get a fresh side-by-side report.