head to head · open source
compose vs gocron
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gocron has 805 stars, 64 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 4,692% (38,573 vs 805 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; gocron is written in Go under MIT. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, gocron 8%. compose was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (go), 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 | gocron | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 805 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 64 |
| 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 gocron if
- You want the gocron feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and gocron 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 gocron
gocron A lightweight distributed scheduled task management system developed in Go, designed to replace Linux crontab. English · 简体中文 Agent Auto Registration Task Management AI Failure Diagnosis 📖 Documentation Full documentation is available at: document 🚀 Quick Start Installation and deployment guide 🤖 Agent Auto Registration One click task node deployment ⚙️ Configuration Detailed configuration guide 🔌 API Documentation API reference ✨ Features Web Interface : Intuitive task management interface Second level Precision : Supports Crontab expressions with second precision High Availability : Database lock…
read the full gocron overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or gocron more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and gocron has 805. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and gocron free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and gocron under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and gocron?
compose is written in Go and gocron 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 gocron?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose gocron if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.