head to head · open source
Archon vs Mage
Archon has 23,807 GitHub stars, 3,518 forks, 321 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mage has 8,840 stars, 994 forks, 624 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Archon leads on adoption by 169% (23,807 vs 8,840 stars). Archon is written in TypeScript under MIT; Mage is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Archon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Mage 11%. Archon 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
| Archon | Mage | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 994 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Archon if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Mage if
- You want the Mage feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Mage fits your workflow better
About Archon
Archon The first open source harness builder for AI coding. Make AI coding deterministic and repeatable. Archon is a workflow engine for AI coding agents. Define your development processes as YAML workflows planning, implementation, validation, code review, PR creation and run them reliably across all your projects. Like what Dockerfiles did for infrastructure and GitHub Actions did for CI/CD Archon does for AI coding workflows. Think n8n, but for software development. Why Archon? When you ask an AI agent to "fix this bug", what happens depends on the model's mood. It might skip planning. It might forget to run…
read the full Archon overview →
About Mage
Mage OSS Build modern data pipelines locally — fast, visual, and production ready. Mage OSS is a self hosted development environment designed to help teams create production grade data pipelines with confidence. Ideal for automating ETL tasks, architecting data flow, or orchestrating transformations — all in a fast, notebook style interface powered by modular code. When it’s time to scale, Mage Pro — our core platform — unlocks enterprise orchestration, collaboration, and AI powered workflows. What you can do with Mage OSS Build pipelines locally with Python, SQL, or R in a modular notebook style UI Run jobs…
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Archon or Mage more popular?
Archon has 23,807 GitHub stars and Mage has 8,840. Archon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Archon and Mage free?
Both are open source. Archon is licensed under MIT and Mage under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Archon and Mage?
Archon is written in TypeScript and Mage 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, Archon or Mage?
Choose Archon if you want the larger community (23,807 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Mage if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.