head to head · open source
airflow vs pudl
airflow has 47,344 GitHub stars, 18,287 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pudl has 612 stars, 151 forks, 502 open issues and last shipped yesterday. airflow leads on adoption by 7,636% (47,344 vs 612 stars). airflow is written in Python under Apache-2.0; pudl is written in Python under MIT. airflow has attracted 39% as many forks as stars, pudl 25%. pudl was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | pudl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 612 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 18K | ⑂ 151 |
| 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 pudl if
- You want the pudl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pudl 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 pudl
=============================================================================== The Public Utility Data Liberation Project (PUDL) =============================================================================== .. readme intro .. repo status image:: :target: :alt: Project Status: Active .. pytest image:: :target: :alt: PyTest Status .. codecov image:: :target: :alt: Codecov Test Coverage .. docs image:: :target: :alt: Docs Build Status .. oc image:: :target: .. pre commit ci image:: :target: :alt: pre commit CI .. zenodo doi image:: :target: :alt: Zenodo DOI .. office hours image:: :target: :alt: Schedule a 1 on…
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Frequently asked questions
Is airflow or pudl more popular?
airflow has 47,344 GitHub stars and pudl has 612. airflow has the larger community by that measure.
Are airflow and pudl free?
Both are open source. airflow is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pudl under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between airflow and pudl?
airflow is written in Python and pudl 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, airflow or pudl?
Choose airflow if you want the larger community (47,344 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pudl if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.