head to head · open source
conductor vs Kestra
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars, 1,010 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kestra has 28,146 stars, 2,997 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 14% (32,207 vs 28,146 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Kestra 11%. Kestra 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 | Kestra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 28K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| 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 Kestra if
- You want the Kestra feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Kestra fits your workflow better
About conductor
Conductor is an Apache 2.0 licensed, event driven agentic workflow engine written in Java that provides durable and highly resilient execution for applications and AI agents, aimed at teams running microservices, AI agents, and adaptive workflow graphs that need orchestration they can version, inspect, and recover.
read the full conductor overview →
About Kestra
Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It operates in the Java based ecosystem and is licensed under Apache 2.0. The project provides a unified interface for both scheduled and real time automation, supporting declarative workflow definitions in YAML while also offering visual and AI assisted authoring.
read the full Kestra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or Kestra more popular?
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars and Kestra has 28,146. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and Kestra free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kestra under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and Kestra?
conductor is written in Java and Kestra 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, conductor or Kestra?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,207 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Kestra if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.