head to head · open source
compose vs Bacalhau
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bacalhau has 876 stars, 105 forks, 27 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 4,303% (38,573 vs 876 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Bacalhau is written in Go under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Bacalhau 12%. compose 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
| compose | Bacalhau | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 876 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 105 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick compose if
- You weight community size — 39K 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 Bacalhau if
- You want the Bacalhau 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 Bacalhau fits your workflow better
About compose
Table of Contents Docker Compose Where to get Docker Compose + Windows and macOS + Linux Quick Start Contributing Legacy Docker Compose Docker Compose is a tool for running multi container applications on Docker defined using the Compose file format. A Compose file is used to define how one or more containers that make up your application are configured. Once you have a Compose file, you can create and start your application with a single command: docker compose up . Note : About Docker Swarm Docker Swarm used to rely on the legacy compose file format but did not adopt the compose specification so is missing…
read the full compose overview →
About Bacalhau
Globally Distributed Compute Orchestrator ⚡ Compute Over Data (CoD) What is Bacalhau? Bacalhau is an open source distributed compute orchestration framework designed to bring compute to the data. Instead of moving large datasets around networks, Bacalhau makes it easy to execute jobs close to the data's location, drastically reducing latency and resource overhead. Why Bacalhau? ⚡ Fast job processing : Jobs in Bacalhau are processed where the data was created and all jobs are parallel by default 💰 Low cost : Reduce (or eliminate) ingress/egress costs since jobs are processed closer to the source 🔒 Secure : Data…
read the full Bacalhau overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or Bacalhau more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and Bacalhau has 876. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and Bacalhau free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Bacalhau under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and Bacalhau?
compose is written in Go and Bacalhau 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 Bacalhau?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Bacalhau if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.