head to head · open source
ActivePieces vs shepherd
ActivePieces has 24,584 GitHub stars, 4,214 forks, 573 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. shepherd has 2,432 stars, 211 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. ActivePieces leads on adoption by 911% (24,584 vs 2,432 stars). ActivePieces is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; shepherd is written in Python under MIT. ActivePieces has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, shepherd 9%. ActivePieces was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (workflow-automation), 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
| ActivePieces | shepherd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 211 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ActivePieces if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick shepherd if
- You want the shepherd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and shepherd fits your workflow better
About ActivePieces
ActivePieces is an open source, TypeScript based no code automation platform for building AI workflows and exposing integrations as MCP servers, aimed at both technical and non technical users who want Zapier style automation while keeping control of their own data.
read the full ActivePieces overview →
About shepherd
Shepherd is a Python runtime substrate that records an agent's execution as a reversible, Git like trace so that meta agents can observe, fork, replay, and revert any run — built for engineers and researchers who supervise, optimise, or train other agents.
read the full shepherd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ActivePieces or shepherd more popular?
ActivePieces has 24,584 GitHub stars and shepherd has 2,432. ActivePieces has the larger community by that measure.
Are ActivePieces and shepherd free?
Both are open source. ActivePieces has no licence declared in this registry, and shepherd is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between ActivePieces and shepherd?
ActivePieces is written in TypeScript and shepherd in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ActivePieces or shepherd?
Choose ActivePieces if you want the larger community (24,584 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose shepherd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.