head to head · open source
AutoMQ vs Operational
AutoMQ has 10,775 GitHub stars, 771 forks, 60 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Operational has 477 stars, 17 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. AutoMQ leads on adoption by 2,159% (10,775 vs 477 stars). AutoMQ is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Operational is written in Vue under AGPL-3.0. AutoMQ has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Operational 4%. AutoMQ 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
| AutoMQ | Operational | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 11K | ★ 477 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 771 | ⑂ 17 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AutoMQ if
- You weight community size — 11K 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 Operational if
- You want the Operational feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and Operational fits your workflow better
About AutoMQ
AutoMQ is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Java based diskless distribution of Kafka that keeps stream data on S3 instead of broker local disks, aimed at platform and infrastructure teams running event streaming at cloud scale.
read the full AutoMQ overview →
About Operational
Operational is an open source event tracking and notification tool for technology products. It lives in the Node.js ecosystem and is distributed as a monorepo containing a Vue 3 single page application, an Express backend, an Astro marketing website, and a shared packages folder published to npm. The runtime stack is Node.js 18 or newer, MySQL 8.x, and Prisma as the data layer, with ClickHouse supported as an optional addition. The project is licensed under AGPL 3.0 and its topics list places it in the self hosted, SaaS, PWA, and push notification space.
read the full Operational overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AutoMQ or Operational more popular?
AutoMQ has 10,775 GitHub stars and Operational has 477. AutoMQ has the larger community by that measure.
Are AutoMQ and Operational free?
Both are open source. AutoMQ is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Operational under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AutoMQ and Operational?
AutoMQ is written in Java and Operational in Vue. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, AutoMQ or Operational?
Choose AutoMQ if you want the larger community (10,775 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Operational if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.