head to head · open source
Windmill vs ByteChef
Windmill has 17,982 GitHub stars, 1,097 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped today. ByteChef has 1,004 stars, 170 forks, 455 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Windmill leads on adoption by 1,691% (17,982 vs 1,004 stars). Windmill is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; ByteChef is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. Windmill has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ByteChef 17%. Windmill was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (low-code), 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
| Windmill | ByteChef | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 170 |
| 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 ByteChef if
- You want the ByteChef feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and ByteChef fits your workflow better
About Windmill
Windmill is an open source developer platform for internal code, including APIs, background jobs, workflows, and UIs. It lives in the self hostable low code automation ecosystem and supports Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, GraphQL, PowerShell, Rust, and more. The project is positioned as an open source alternative to Zapier and, in the README, to Retool, Pipedream, Superblocks, and a simplified Temporal.
read the full Windmill overview →
About ByteChef
ByteChef is an open source, Java based platform in the Productivity & Utilities / Automation category that unifies AI agent orchestration and workflow automation for developers, low code builders, and enterprises that need both capabilities in one system.
read the full ByteChef overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Windmill or ByteChef more popular?
Windmill has 17,982 GitHub stars and ByteChef has 1,004. Windmill has the larger community by that measure.
Are Windmill and ByteChef free?
Neither Windmill nor ByteChef declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Windmill and ByteChef?
Windmill is written in Rust and ByteChef in Java. 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 ByteChef?
Choose Windmill if you want the larger community (17,982 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ByteChef if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.