head to head · open source
conductor vs Kestra
conductor has 32,404 GitHub stars, 1,050 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Kestra has 30,111 stars, 3,495 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 8% (32,404 vs 30,111 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 12%. 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 | ★ 30K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| 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 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 Kestra
Open source orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows Click on the image to learn how to get started with Kestra in 3 minutes. 🌟 What is Kestra? Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It unifies scheduled and event driven automation behind a declarative, language agnostic interface. By bringing Infrastructure as Code best practices to your data, process, and microservice pipelines, you can build reliable workflows directly from the UI in just a few lines of YAML, let the built in AI Copilot write them for you, or generate…
read the full Kestra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or Kestra more popular?
conductor has 32,404 GitHub stars and Kestra has 30,111. 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 (32,404 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.