head to head · open source
compose vs rtic
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars, 5,817 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rtic has 2,403 stars, 263 forks, 58 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 1,489% (38,175 vs 2,403 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; rtic is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, rtic 11%. rtic 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 | rtic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 263 |
| 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 rtic if
- You want the rtic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rtic 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 rtic
RTIC is the Real Time Interrupt driven Concurrency framework for ARM Cortex M microcontrollers. It lives in the Rust embedded ecosystem, with topics that include bare metal, no std, concurrency, and scheduling. The README describes it as a hardware accelerated Rust RTOS and a concurrency framework for building real time systems. All Cortex M devices are fully supported, and most RISC V devices are supported.
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or rtic more popular?
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars and rtic has 2,403. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and rtic free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rtic under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and rtic?
compose is written in Go and rtic in Rust. 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 rtic?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,175 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rtic if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.