head to head · open source
compose vs swarm-cronjob
compose has 38,568 GitHub stars, 5,900 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. swarm-cronjob has 889 stars, 77 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 4,238% (38,568 vs 889 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; swarm-cronjob is written in Go under MIT. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, swarm-cronjob 9%. compose was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (docker, go, golang), 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 | swarm-cronjob | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 889 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 77 |
| 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 swarm-cronjob if
- You want the swarm-cronjob feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and swarm-cronjob 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 swarm-cronjob
About swarm cronjob lets you run recurring jobs on Docker Swarm by defining cron style schedules with service labels. It watches your services through the Docker API, keeps its configuration in sync automatically, and creates scheduled job runs across the cluster without requiring a separate scheduler. [!TIP] Want to be notified of new releases? Check out 🔔 Diun (Docker Image Update Notifier) project! Documentation Documentation can be found on Contributing Want to contribute? Awesome! The most basic way to show your support is to star the project, or to raise issues. You can also support this project by…
read the full swarm-cronjob overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or swarm-cronjob more popular?
compose has 38,568 GitHub stars and swarm-cronjob has 889. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and swarm-cronjob free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and swarm-cronjob under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and swarm-cronjob?
compose is written in Go and swarm-cronjob 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 swarm-cronjob?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,568 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose swarm-cronjob if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.