head to head · open source
conductor vs rowboat
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars, 1,010 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rowboat has 17,871 stars, 1,776 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 80% (32,207 vs 17,871 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, rowboat 10%. 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 | rowboat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 18K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 rowboat if
- You want the rowboat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and rowboat 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 rowboat
Rowboat is an open source desktop AI coworker, licensed Apache 2.0 and written in TypeScript, that maintains a memory of your work as a local Markdown knowledge graph and provides built in surfaces — email, notes, browser, code mode, meeting notes — for acting on that memory.
read the full rowboat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or rowboat more popular?
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars and rowboat has 17,871. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and rowboat free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rowboat under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and rowboat?
conductor is written in Java and rowboat in TypeScript. 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 rowboat?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,207 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rowboat if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.