head to head · open source
conductor vs haystack
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. haystack has 26,913 stars, 3,384 forks, 143 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 20% (32,401 vs 26,913 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; haystack is written in Python under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, haystack 13%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| conductor | haystack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 27K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| 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 haystack if
- You want the haystack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and haystack 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 haystack
🎉🎊✨ Haystack 3.0 is out! ✨🎊🎉 Read the announcement here! 🥳 🎈 🎆 🪅 🎇 🍾 🥂 🎁 🌈 Haystack is an open source AI orchestration framework for building production ready LLM applications in Python. Design modular pipelines and agent workflows with explicit control over retrieval, routing, memory, and generation. Build scalable RAG systems, multimodal applications, semantic search, question answering, and autonomous agents, all in a transparent architecture that lets you experiment, customize deeply, and deploy with confidence. Table of Contents Installation Documentation Features Haystack Enterprise: Support &…
read the full haystack 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 haystack more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and haystack has 26,913. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and haystack free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and haystack under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and haystack?
conductor is written in Java and haystack in Python. 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 haystack?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose haystack if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.