head to head · open source
compose vs hof
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hof has 615 stars, 48 forks, 74 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. compose leads on adoption by 6,172% (38,573 vs 615 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; hof is written in Go under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, hof 8%. compose 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 | hof | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 615 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 48 |
| 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 hof if
- You want the hof 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 hof 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 hof
hof the higher order framework A tool that unifies data models, schemas, code generation, and a task engine. hof is a CLI tool you add to your workflow. Foundation in CUE Deterministic and Agentic code generation Data models that can evolve and be input to code generation Task engine based on cue/flow Agent servers and VS Code extension hof uses CUE to power the DX and implementation. We believe CUE is a great language for specifying schemas, configuration, and generally for writing anything declarative or this is a source of truth. It has good theory and comes from the same people that brought us containers…
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or hof more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and hof has 615. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and hof free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hof under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and hof?
compose is written in Go and hof 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 hof?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hof if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.