head to head · open source
conductor vs agent-framework
conductor has 32,213 GitHub stars, 1,012 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. agent-framework has 13,604 stars, 2,344 forks, 617 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. conductor leads on adoption by 137% (32,213 vs 13,604 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; agent-framework is written in Python under MIT. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, agent-framework 17%. conductor was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| conductor | agent-framework | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 14K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick conductor if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agent-framework if
- You want the agent-framework feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and agent-framework fits your workflow better
About conductor
Conductor is an Apache 2.0 licensed, event driven agentic workflow engine written in Java that provides durable and highly resilient execution for applications and AI agents, aimed at teams running microservices, AI agents, and adaptive workflow graphs that need orchestration they can version, inspect, and recover.
read the full conductor overview →
About agent-framework
Microsoft Agent Framework is an open, MIT licensed, multi language framework for building, orchestrating and deploying production grade AI agents and multi agent workflows in Python and .NET, aimed at teams moving agents from prototype to production.
read the full agent-framework overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or agent-framework more popular?
conductor has 32,213 GitHub stars and agent-framework has 13,604. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and agent-framework free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and agent-framework under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and agent-framework?
conductor is written in Java and agent-framework 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, conductor or agent-framework?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,213 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose agent-framework if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.