head to head · open source
compose vs conductor
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars, 5,817 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor has 32,207 stars, 1,010 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 19% (38,175 vs 32,207 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, conductor 3%. conductor 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 | conductor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 32K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 conductor if
- You want the conductor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and conductor 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 conductor
Conductor is an Apache 2.0 licensed, event driven agentic workflow engine written in Java that provides durable and highly resilient execution for applications and AI agents, aimed at teams running microservices, AI agents, and adaptive workflow graphs that need orchestration they can version, inspect, and recover.
read the full conductor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or conductor more popular?
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars and conductor has 32,207. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and conductor free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and conductor under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and conductor?
compose is written in Go and conductor in Java. 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 conductor?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,175 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose conductor if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.