head to head · open source
apscheduler vs Saturn
apscheduler has 7,678 GitHub stars, 815 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Saturn has 2,306 stars, 684 forks, 279 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. apscheduler leads on adoption by 233% (7,678 vs 2,306 stars). apscheduler is written in Python under MIT; Saturn is written in Java under Apache-2.0. apscheduler has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Saturn 30%. apscheduler was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (scheduling), 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
| apscheduler | Saturn | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.7K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2025-11-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 815 | ⑂ 684 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick apscheduler if
- You weight community size — 7.7K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Saturn if
- You want the Saturn 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 Saturn fits your workflow better
About apscheduler
.. image:: :target: :alt: Build Status .. image:: :target: :alt: Code Coverage .. image:: :target: :alt: Documentation .. warning:: The v4.0 series is provided as a pre release and may change in a backwards incompatible fashion without any migration pathway, so do NOT use this release in production! Advanced Python Scheduler (APScheduler) is a task scheduler and task queue system for Python. It can be used solely as a job queuing system if you have no need for task scheduling. It scales both up and down, and is suitable for both trivial, single process use cases as well as large deployments spanning multiple…
read the full apscheduler overview →
About Saturn
Saturn is a platform created by VIP.com(唯品会) to provide a distributed, fault tolerant and high available job scheduling service. Why Saturn? Time based and language unrestricted job Easy job implmentation and web based management Parallel subtask(shard) scheduling 1 second level scheduling supported Intelligent load based job allocation Fail detection & failover support Statistical data visualization All around monitoring and easy troubleshooting Multi active cluster deployment support Container friendly Stand the test of billion times scheduling per day and more Quick Start 快速安装 Make sure below stuff already…
read the full Saturn overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is apscheduler or Saturn more popular?
apscheduler has 7,678 GitHub stars and Saturn has 2,306. apscheduler has the larger community by that measure.
Are apscheduler and Saturn free?
Both are open source. apscheduler is licensed under MIT and Saturn under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between apscheduler and Saturn?
apscheduler is written in Python and Saturn 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, apscheduler or Saturn?
Choose apscheduler if you want the larger community (7,678 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Saturn if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.