head to head · open source
conductor vs obelisk
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. obelisk has 766 stars, 19 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 4,130% (32,401 vs 766 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; obelisk is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, obelisk 2%. conductor was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (workflow-engine), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | obelisk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 766 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 19 |
| 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 obelisk if
- You want the obelisk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and obelisk 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 obelisk
Obelisk A deterministic workflow engine built on the WASM Component Model. [!WARNING] Pre release : Expect changes in CLI, gRPC, WIT, and database schema. Obelisk in Action The Stargazers app features: A webhook listening to GitHub star events. Activities for interacting with Turso DB, OpenAI, and GitHub. A workflow orchestrating the activities. Obelisk fly.io deployment tool features: A complete workflow for deploying Obelisk apps on fly.io Cleanup / compensating actions on failure What's Included Obelisk Runtime : A single binary executing deterministic workflows, activities, and webhook endpoints, persisting…
read the full obelisk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or obelisk more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and obelisk has 766. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and obelisk free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and obelisk under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and obelisk?
conductor is written in Java and obelisk in Rust. 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 obelisk?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose obelisk if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.