head to head · open source
compose vs dolphinscheduler
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dolphinscheduler has 14,551 stars, 5,123 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 165% (38,573 vs 14,551 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dolphinscheduler is written in Java under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, dolphinscheduler 35%. 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 | dolphinscheduler | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 5.1K |
| 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 dolphinscheduler if
- You want the dolphinscheduler 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 dolphinscheduler 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 dolphinscheduler
Apache Dolphinscheduler About Apache DolphinScheduler is a modern data orchestration platform that empowers agile, low code development of high performance workflows. It is dedicated to handling complex task dependencies in data pipelines and provides a wide range of built in job types out of the box . Key features for DolphinScheduler are as follows: Easy to deploy, providing four deployment modes including Standalone, Cluster, Docker, and Kubernetes. Easy to use, workflows can be created and managed via Web UI, Python SDK or Open API Highly reliable and high availability, with a decentralized, multi master and…
read the full dolphinscheduler overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or dolphinscheduler more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and dolphinscheduler has 14,551. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and dolphinscheduler free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dolphinscheduler under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and dolphinscheduler?
compose is written in Go and dolphinscheduler 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 dolphinscheduler?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dolphinscheduler if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.