head to head · open source
airflow vs hop
airflow has 47,350 GitHub stars, 18,299 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hop has 1,516 stars, 487 forks, 431 open issues and last shipped yesterday. airflow leads on adoption by 3,023% (47,350 vs 1,516 stars). airflow is written in Python under Apache-2.0; hop is written in Java under Apache-2.0. airflow has attracted 39% as many forks as stars, hop 32%. airflow was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (apache, data-integration, etl), 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
| airflow | hop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 18K | ⑂ 487 |
| 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 hop if
- You want the hop feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and hop fits your workflow better
About airflow
Apache Airflow Apache Airflow (or simply Airflow) is a platform to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows. When workflows are defined as code, they become more maintainable, versionable, testable, and collaborative. Use Airflow to author workflows (Dags) that orchestrate tasks. The Airflow scheduler executes your tasks on an array of workers while following the specified dependencies. Rich command line utilities make performing complex surgeries on Dags a snap. The rich user interface makes it easy to visualize pipelines running in production, monitor progress, and troubleshoot issues when…
read the full airflow overview →
About hop
Apache Hop The Hop Orchestration Platform aims to facilitate all aspects of data and metadata orchestration. Trying Apache Hop Apache Hop aims to offer you a very stable user experience. Any feedback that you might have is welcome! If you find that something is not working, have an idea for a new feature or simply if something is not to your liking, let us know! Your help is invaluable. There are various things you can do to help Hop continue moving forward quickly: Log bugs, request features in GitHub Ask questions in the mailing lists or GitHub Discussions Help us write or fix documentation (lot of…
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Frequently asked questions
Is airflow or hop more popular?
airflow has 47,350 GitHub stars and hop has 1,516. airflow has the larger community by that measure.
Are airflow and hop free?
Both are open source. airflow is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hop under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between airflow and hop?
airflow is written in Python and hop in Java. 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 hop?
Choose airflow if you want the larger community (47,350 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hop if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.