head to head · open source
Windmill vs astron-rpa
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars, 1,135 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped yesterday. astron-rpa has 5,283 stars, 485 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Windmill leads on adoption by 248% (18,370 vs 5,283 stars). Windmill is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; astron-rpa is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Windmill has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, astron-rpa 9%. Windmill 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.
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Side by side
| Windmill | astron-rpa | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 485 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Windmill if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick astron-rpa if
- You want the astron-rpa 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 astron-rpa fits your workflow better
About Windmill
Open source developer platform for internal code: APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs. Self hostable alternative to Retool, Pipedream, Superblocks and a simplified Temporal with autogenerated UIs and custom UIs to trigger workflows and scripts as internal apps. Scripts are turned into sharable UIs automatically, and can be composed together into flows or used into richer apps built with low code. Supported languages: Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, GraphQL, PowerShell, Rust, and more. Try it Website Docs Discord Hub Contributing Windmill Developer platform for APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs…
read the full Windmill overview →
About astron-rpa
AstronRPA 🤖 Pioneering Open Source Enterprise RPA Desktop Application Astron RPA Official Site · Deployment Guide · User Documentation · FAQ English 简体中文 📋 Overview AstronRPA is an enterprise grade Robotic Process Automation (RPA) desktop application. Through a visual designer, it supports low code/no code development, enabling users to rapidly build workflows and automate desktop software and web pages. Astron Agent is the native Agent platform supported by this project. Users can directly call RPA workflow nodes in Astron Agent, and also use Agent workflows in AstronRPA, achieving efficient collaboration…
read the full astron-rpa overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Windmill or astron-rpa more popular?
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars and astron-rpa has 5,283. Windmill has the larger community by that measure.
Are Windmill and astron-rpa free?
Both are open source. Windmill has no licence declared in this registry, and astron-rpa is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Windmill and astron-rpa?
Windmill is written in Rust and astron-rpa 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, Windmill or astron-rpa?
Choose Windmill if you want the larger community (18,370 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose astron-rpa if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.