head to head · open source
conductor vs process-compose
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. process-compose has 2,914 stars, 160 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 1,012% (32,401 vs 2,914 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; process-compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, process-compose 5%. conductor was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (orchestrator), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| conductor | process-compose | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 160 |
| 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 process-compose if
- You want the process-compose 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 process-compose 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 process-compose
Process Compose Process Compose is a simple and flexible scheduler and orchestrator to manage non containerized applications. Why? Because sometimes you just don't want to deal with docker files, volume definitions, networks and docker registries. Since it's written in Go, Process Compose is a single binary file and has no other dependencies. Once installed, you just need to describe your workflow using a simple YAML schema in a file called process compose.yaml : And start it by running process compose from your terminal. Check the Documentation for more advanced use cases. Features Processes execution (in…
read the full process-compose overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or process-compose more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and process-compose has 2,914. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and process-compose free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and process-compose under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and process-compose?
conductor is written in Java and process-compose 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 process-compose?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose process-compose if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.