head to head · open source
conductor vs Bacalhau
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bacalhau has 876 stars, 105 forks, 27 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. conductor leads on adoption by 3,599% (32,401 vs 876 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Bacalhau is written in Go under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Bacalhau 12%. conductor 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
| conductor | Bacalhau | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 876 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 105 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick conductor if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Bacalhau if
- You want the Bacalhau feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Bacalhau fits your workflow better
About conductor
Conductor Durable Execution for Workflows and Agents Build agents that adapt. Run graphs that endure. Conductor is an open source durable execution platform for microservices, AI agents, and adaptive workflow graphs. It turns runtime choices—loops, branching, fan out, tool calls, approvals, retries, and cancellation—into durable, inspectable execution. It originated at Netflix and is actively maintained by Orkes and the community. Get Running in 60 Seconds Prerequisites: Node.js v16+ and Java 21+ must be installed. Open — your server is running with the built in ui next UI. Upgrading from a previous version? The…
read the full conductor overview →
About Bacalhau
Globally Distributed Compute Orchestrator ⚡ Compute Over Data (CoD) What is Bacalhau? Bacalhau is an open source distributed compute orchestration framework designed to bring compute to the data. Instead of moving large datasets around networks, Bacalhau makes it easy to execute jobs close to the data's location, drastically reducing latency and resource overhead. Why Bacalhau? ⚡ Fast job processing : Jobs in Bacalhau are processed where the data was created and all jobs are parallel by default 💰 Low cost : Reduce (or eliminate) ingress/egress costs since jobs are processed closer to the source 🔒 Secure : Data…
read the full Bacalhau overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or Bacalhau more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and Bacalhau has 876. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and Bacalhau free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Bacalhau under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and Bacalhau?
conductor is written in Java and Bacalhau 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, conductor or Bacalhau?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Bacalhau if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.