head to head · open source
compose vs genie
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. genie has 1,768 stars, 377 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 2,082% (38,573 vs 1,768 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; genie is written in Java under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, genie 21%. 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 | genie | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 377 |
| 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 genie if
- You want the genie 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 genie 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 genie
Genie Introduction Genie is a federated Big Data orchestration and execution engine developed by Netflix. Genie’s value is best described in terms of the problem it solves. Big Data infrastructure is complex and ever evolving. Data consumers (Data Scientists or other applications) need to jump over a lot of hurdles in order to run a simple query: Find, download, install and configure a number of binaries, libraries and tools Point to the correct cluster, using valid configuration and reasonable parameters, some of which are very obscure Manually monitor the query, retrieve its output What works today, may not…
read the full genie overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or genie more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and genie has 1,768. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and genie free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and genie under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and genie?
compose is written in Go and genie 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 genie?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose genie if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.