head to head · open source
compose vs clusternet
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. clusternet has 1,460 stars, 208 forks, 72 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 2,542% (38,573 vs 1,460 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%. compose 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 | ★ 39K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 208 |
| 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 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
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 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…
read the full clusternet overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or clusternet more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and clusternet has 1,460. 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 (38,573 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.