head to head · open source
Temporal vs cloudstack
Temporal has 23,180 GitHub stars, 1,914 forks, 956 open issues and last shipped today. cloudstack has 3,075 stars, 1,385 forks, 1,048 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Temporal leads on adoption by 654% (23,180 vs 3,075 stars). Temporal is written in Go under MIT; cloudstack is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Temporal has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, cloudstack 45%. Temporal 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Temporal | cloudstack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Temporal if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cloudstack if
- You want the cloudstack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and cloudstack fits your workflow better
About Temporal
Temporal is a durable execution platform for building resilient applications with workflows. It lives in the infrastructure and operations ecosystem, specifically within orchestration and scheduling. The server executes units of application logic called Workflows and automatically handles intermittent failures by retrying failed operations. Temporal originated as a fork of Uber's Cadence and is developed by Temporal Technologies, a startup formed by the creators of Cadence.
read the full Temporal overview →
About cloudstack
Apache CloudStack is an open source Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud computing platform, written primarily in Java and released under the Apache 2.0 licence, that deploys and manages large networks of virtual machines for service providers, enterprises, and operators who need a cloud they control.
read the full cloudstack overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Temporal or cloudstack more popular?
Temporal has 23,180 GitHub stars and cloudstack has 3,075. Temporal has the larger community by that measure.
Are Temporal and cloudstack free?
Both are open source. Temporal is licensed under MIT and cloudstack under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Temporal and cloudstack?
Temporal is written in Go and cloudstack 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, Temporal or cloudstack?
Choose Temporal if you want the larger community (23,180 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cloudstack if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.