head to head · open source
conductor vs workflow
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars, 1,010 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. workflow has 2,416 stars, 361 forks, 360 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 1,233% (32,207 vs 2,416 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; workflow is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, workflow 15%. workflow was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (durable-execution, 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 | workflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 361 |
| 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 workflow if
- You want the workflow 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 workflow 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 workflow
Workflow SDK is a TypeScript and JavaScript library that makes application functions durable. It lives in the TypeScript/JavaScript ecosystem and targets server side frameworks such as Next.js. The project is intended for apps and AI agents that need to continue work across failures, waits, and restarts.
read the full workflow overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or workflow more popular?
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars and workflow has 2,416. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and workflow free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and workflow under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and workflow?
conductor is written in Java and workflow 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 workflow?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,207 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose workflow if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.