head to head · open source
Kestra vs agent-orchestrator
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars, 3,005 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. agent-orchestrator has 12,195 stars, 1,685 forks, 711 open issues and last shipped today. Kestra leads on adoption by 131% (28,181 vs 12,195 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; agent-orchestrator is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, agent-orchestrator 14%. agent-orchestrator 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
| Kestra | agent-orchestrator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 12K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kestra if
- You weight community size — 28K 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-orchestrator if
- You want the agent-orchestrator feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and agent-orchestrator fits your workflow better
About Kestra
Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It operates in the Java based ecosystem and is licensed under Apache 2.0. The project provides a unified interface for both scheduled and real time automation, supporting declarative workflow definitions in YAML while also offering visual and AI assisted authoring.
read the full Kestra overview →
About agent-orchestrator
Agent Orchestrator is an open source desktop workspace for running and supervising teams of coding agents, written in Go and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the agent orchestration ecosystem, alongside the coding harnesses it drives, and it is distributed as a local application rather than as a hosted service. The project describes itself as a place to plan, run, and supervise coding agents from one place, giving every coding task its own agent, workspace, and feedback loop.
read the full agent-orchestrator overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or agent-orchestrator more popular?
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars and agent-orchestrator has 12,195. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and agent-orchestrator free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and agent-orchestrator under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and agent-orchestrator?
Kestra is written in Java and agent-orchestrator in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Kestra or agent-orchestrator?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,181 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose agent-orchestrator if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.