head to head · open source
Archon vs workflow
Archon has 23,828 GitHub stars, 3,523 forks, 321 open issues and last shipped yesterday. workflow has 2,491 stars, 388 forks, 360 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Archon leads on adoption by 857% (23,828 vs 2,491 stars). Archon is written in TypeScript under MIT; workflow is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Archon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, workflow 16%. workflow was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (workflow-engine), 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
| Archon | workflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 388 |
| 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 workflow if
- You want the workflow feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and workflow 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 workflow
Workflow SDK Workflow SDK makes TypeScript and JavaScript functions durable. It persists workflow progress, retries failed steps, and provides built in observability. Workflows can suspend without using compute while they wait. Quick start Install the SDK in an existing project: Configure the integration for your framework. For example, with Next.js: Then start a workflow from an API route, Server Action, or other server side code: Run your app, then open the local observability UI in another terminal: Choose your framework in the getting started guides. [!NOTE] The workflow package includes its full…
read the full workflow overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Archon or workflow more popular?
Archon has 23,828 GitHub stars and workflow has 2,491. Archon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Archon and workflow free?
Both are open source. Archon is licensed under MIT and workflow under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Archon and workflow?
Archon is written in TypeScript and workflow in TypeScript. 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 workflow?
Choose Archon if you want the larger community (23,828 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose workflow if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.