head to head · open source
compose vs relay
compose has 38,184 GitHub stars, 5,820 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. relay has 837 stars, 64 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 4,462% (38,184 vs 837 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; relay is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, relay 8%. relay 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.
← all 15422 open source comparisons
Side by side
| compose | relay | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 837 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 64 |
| 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 relay if
- You want the relay feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and relay 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 relay
Relay is a TypeScript, Apache 2.0 licensed real time messaging layer that gives AI agents shared channels, threads, direct messages, reactions, files, search and realtime events, and it is built for teams orchestrating multiple agents such as Claude Code, Codex or custom harnesses.
read the full relay overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is compose or relay more popular?
compose has 38,184 GitHub stars and relay has 837. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and relay free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and relay under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and relay?
compose is written in Go and relay in TypeScript. 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 relay?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,184 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose relay if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.