head to head · open source
astron-agent vs relay
astron-agent has 9,017 GitHub stars, 887 forks, 46 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. relay has 843 stars, 65 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped today. astron-agent leads on adoption by 970% (9,017 vs 843 stars). astron-agent is written in Java under Apache-2.0; relay is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. astron-agent has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, relay 8%. relay was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (agent, agentic-ai), 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
| astron-agent | relay | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.0K | ★ 843 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-10 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 887 | ⑂ 65 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick astron-agent if
- You weight community size — 9.0K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick relay if
- You want the relay 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 relay fits your workflow better
About astron-agent
Astron Agent is an enterprise grade, commercial friendly agentic workflow platform for building next generation SuperAgents, aimed at organizations that need to orchestrate AI workflows, models, tools, and RPA automation in production rather than in a demo.
read the full astron-agent overview →
About relay
Relay is a TypeScript, Apache 2.0 licensed real time messaging layer that gives AI agents shared channels, threads, direct messages, reactions, files, search and realtime events, and it is built for teams orchestrating multiple agents such as Claude Code, Codex or custom harnesses.
read the full relay overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is astron-agent or relay more popular?
astron-agent has 9,017 GitHub stars and relay has 843. astron-agent has the larger community by that measure.
Are astron-agent and relay free?
Both are open source. astron-agent is licensed under Apache-2.0 and relay under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between astron-agent and relay?
astron-agent is written in Java and relay 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, astron-agent or relay?
Choose astron-agent if you want the larger community (9,017 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose relay if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.