head to head · open source
conductor vs kapitan
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kapitan has 1,933 stars, 215 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. conductor leads on adoption by 1,576% (32,401 vs 1,933 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; kapitan is written in Python under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, kapitan 11%. 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 | kapitan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 215 |
| 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 kapitan if
- You want the kapitan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and kapitan 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 kapitan
Kapitan: Configuration Management for Kubernetes, Terraform, and Infrastructure Kapitan is an open source configuration management tool for Kubernetes , Terraform , and complex infrastructure systems. It helps teams generate, organize, reuse, and validate configuration across environments using an inventory driven model , templates ( Jsonnet , Jinja2 , Kadet ), and integrations with Helm , Kustomize , CUE , and external references. Kapitan provides native secrets management (GPG, AWS KMS, GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault) and is designed for Platform Engineering and GitOps workflows. Website…
read the full kapitan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or kapitan more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and kapitan has 1,933. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and kapitan free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kapitan under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and kapitan?
conductor is written in Java and kapitan in Python. 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 kapitan?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kapitan if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.