head to head · open source
conductor vs pipecd
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pipecd has 1,370 stars, 384 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 2,265% (32,401 vs 1,370 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; pipecd is written in Go under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, pipecd 28%. 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 | pipecd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 384 |
| 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 pipecd if
- You want the pipecd 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 pipecd 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 pipecd
A GitOps style continuous delivery platform that provides consistent deployment and operations experience for any applications Explore PipeCD docs » Try on Playground » Overview PipeCD provides a unified continuous delivery solution for multiple application kinds on multi cloud that empowers engineers to deploy faster with more confidence, a GitOps tool that enables doing deployment operations by pull request on Git. Why PipeCD? Simple, unified and easy to use but powerful pipeline definition to construct your deployment Same deployment interface to deploy applications of any platform, including Kubernetes…
read the full pipecd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or pipecd more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and pipecd has 1,370. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and pipecd free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pipecd under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and pipecd?
conductor is written in Java and pipecd 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 pipecd?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pipecd if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.