head to head · open source
compose vs agent-swarm
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars, 5,818 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. agent-swarm has 807 stars, 104 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 4,631% (38,178 vs 807 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; agent-swarm is written in TypeScript under MIT. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, agent-swarm 13%. agent-swarm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (docker, orchestration), 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
| compose | agent-swarm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 807 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 104 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick compose if
- You weight community size — 38K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agent-swarm if
- You want the agent-swarm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and agent-swarm fits your workflow better
About compose
Docker Compose is an Apache 2.0 licensed Go tool that defines and runs multi container applications on Docker from a single Compose file, aimed at developers and operators who need several containers to start together as one isolated application.
read the full compose overview →
About agent-swarm
Agent Swarm is an MIT licensed, self hosted orchestration engine that runs a lead agent delegating goals to worker agents inside isolated Docker containers, built for teams that want their company to become AI native while keeping the work on their own infrastructure.
read the full agent-swarm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or agent-swarm more popular?
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars and agent-swarm has 807. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and agent-swarm free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and agent-swarm under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and agent-swarm?
compose is written in Go and agent-swarm 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, compose or agent-swarm?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,178 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose agent-swarm if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.