head to head · open source
compose vs Kestra
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kestra has 30,122 stars, 3,495 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 28% (38,573 vs 30,122 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Kestra 12%. Kestra 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 | Kestra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 30K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| 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 Kestra if
- You want the Kestra 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 Kestra 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 Kestra
Open source orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows Click on the image to learn how to get started with Kestra in 3 minutes. 🌟 What is Kestra? Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It unifies scheduled and event driven automation behind a declarative, language agnostic interface. By bringing Infrastructure as Code best practices to your data, process, and microservice pipelines, you can build reliable workflows directly from the UI in just a few lines of YAML, let the built in AI Copilot write them for you, or generate…
read the full Kestra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or Kestra more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and Kestra has 30,122. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and Kestra free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kestra under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and Kestra?
compose is written in Go and Kestra 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 Kestra?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Kestra if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.