head to head · open source
airflow vs Cube
airflow has 47,147 GitHub stars, 18,000 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cube has 20,987 stars, 2,153 forks, 1,185 open issues and last shipped yesterday. airflow leads on adoption by 125% (47,147 vs 20,987 stars). airflow is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Cube is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. airflow has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, Cube 10%. Cube 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| airflow | Cube | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 21K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 18K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick airflow if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Cube if
- You want the Cube feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Cube fits your workflow better
About airflow
Apache Airflow is an open source Python platform for programmatically authoring, scheduling, and monitoring data workflows, aimed at data engineers, data scientists, and MLOps teams who need to orchestrate pipelines as code.
read the full airflow overview →
About Cube
Cube Core is an open source semantic layer for AI, BI, and embedded analytics. It lives in the data analytics and data engineering ecosystem for SQL warehouses, BI tools, applications, and AI agents. It lets teams define metrics, dimensions, joins, and access rules once in code, then expose them through SQL, REST, and GraphQL APIs. It is headless and ships no user interface.
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Data Engineering & Integration projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Data Engineering & Integration field.
Frequently asked questions
Is airflow or Cube more popular?
airflow has 47,147 GitHub stars and Cube has 20,987. airflow has the larger community by that measure.
Are airflow and Cube free?
Both are open source. airflow is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Cube has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between airflow and Cube?
airflow is written in Python and Cube in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, airflow or Cube?
Choose airflow if you want the larger community (47,147 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Cube if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.