head to head · open source
compose vs atmos
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars, 5,818 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. atmos has 1,379 stars, 175 forks, 289 open issues and last shipped today. compose leads on adoption by 2,669% (38,178 vs 1,379 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; atmos is written in Go under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, atmos 13%. atmos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| compose | atmos | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 175 |
| 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 atmos if
- You want the atmos feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and atmos 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 atmos
Run your infrastructure anywhere. Atmos is the open source runtime for infrastructure — it builds, authenticates, and ships Terraform, OpenTofu, Kubernetes, Helm, and containers the same way on your laptop, in CI, and with AI agents. Auth, secrets, vendoring, caching, the toolchain, workflows, and CI are built in. Point every environment at the same reusable root modules and treat the rest as configuration. Stop stringing together 25 tools. Run it on your laptop. Run it the same in CI. Run it with agents. Everything is open source and free. [!TIP] You can try out atmos directly in your browser using GitHub Codesp…
read the full atmos 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 compose or atmos more popular?
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars and atmos has 1,379. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and atmos free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and atmos under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and atmos?
compose is written in Go and atmos in Go. 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 atmos?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,178 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose atmos if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.