head to head · open source
compose vs xxl-job
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars, 5,817 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xxl-job has 30,562 stars, 11,486 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. compose leads on adoption by 25% (38,175 vs 30,562 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; xxl-job is written in Java under GPL-3.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, xxl-job 38%. compose 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 | xxl-job | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 31K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 11K |
| 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 xxl-job if
- You want the xxl-job feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and xxl-job 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 xxl-job
XXL JOB is a distributed task scheduling framework written in Java and released under the GPL 3.0 licence, built for teams that need scheduled jobs to run reliably across a cluster of machines rather than inside a single application process.
read the full xxl-job overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or xxl-job more popular?
compose has 38,175 GitHub stars and xxl-job has 30,562. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and xxl-job free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and xxl-job under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and xxl-job?
compose is written in Go and xxl-job 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 xxl-job?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,175 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose xxl-job if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.