head to head · open source
compose vs clusternet
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars, 5,818 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. clusternet has 1,450 stars, 208 forks, 72 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 2,533% (38,178 vs 1,450 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; clusternet is written in Go under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, clusternet 14%. clusternet 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.
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Side by side
| compose | clusternet | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 208 |
| 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 clusternet if
- You want the clusternet 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 clusternet 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 clusternet
Managing Your Clusters (including public, private, hybrid, edge, etc.) as easily as Visiting the Internet. Out of the Box. A CNCF(Cloud Native Computing Foundation) Sandbox Project. Clusternet ( Cluster Inter net ) is an open source add on that helps you manage thousands of millions of Kubernetes clusters as easily as visiting the Internet. No matter the clusters are running on public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, or at the edge, Clusternet helps setup network tunnels in a configurable way and lets you manage/visit them all as if they were running locally. This also helps eliminate the need to juggle differ…
read the full clusternet overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or clusternet more popular?
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars and clusternet has 1,450. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and clusternet free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and clusternet under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and clusternet?
compose is written in Go and clusternet 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 clusternet?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,178 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose clusternet if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.