head to head · open source
Kestra vs Dagu
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars, 3,005 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Dagu has 4,036 stars, 339 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kestra leads on adoption by 598% (28,181 vs 4,036 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Dagu is written in Go under GPL-3.0. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Dagu 8%. Dagu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, devops), 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
| Kestra | Dagu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 339 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kestra if
- You weight community size — 28K 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 Dagu if
- You want the Dagu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Dagu fits your workflow better
About Kestra
Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It operates in the Java based ecosystem and is licensed under Apache 2.0. The project provides a unified interface for both scheduled and real time automation, supporting declarative workflow definitions in YAML while also offering visual and AI assisted authoring.
read the full Kestra overview →
About Dagu
Dagu is local first workflow engine. It targets operations and internal automation. It lives in Infrastructure & Operations / Orchestration & Scheduling. It is Go project under GPL 3.0. It provides single binary with built in Web UI. It needs no external database or message broker. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. GitHub metadata lists 3982 stars, 332 forks, 0 contributors, 67 open issues, repo age 0 years, last push 2026 09 14.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or Dagu more popular?
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars and Dagu has 4,036. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and Dagu free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Dagu under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and Dagu?
Kestra is written in Java and Dagu 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, Kestra or Dagu?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,181 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Dagu if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.