head to head · open source
compose vs Mage
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars, 5,817 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mage has 8,823 stars, 990 forks, 624 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 333% (38,175 vs 8,823 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Mage is written in Python under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Mage 11%. 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 | Mage | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 990 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick compose if
- You weight community size — 38K 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 Mage if
- You want the Mage feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Mage fits your workflow better
About compose
Docker Compose is an Apache 2.0 licensed Go tool that defines and runs multi container applications on Docker from a single Compose file, aimed at developers and operators who need several containers to start together as one isolated application.
read the full compose overview →
About Mage
Mage is an Apache 2.0 licensed, self hosted development environment for building, running, and managing data pipelines, aimed at data engineers, data scientists, and analytics teams who want to develop ETL, ELT, and orchestration workflows locally before scaling them.
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or Mage more popular?
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars and Mage has 8,823. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and Mage free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Mage under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and Mage?
compose is written in Go and Mage in Python. 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 Mage?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,175 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Mage if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.