head to head · open source
Inngest vs openworkflow
Inngest has 5,853 GitHub stars, 358 forks, 234 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openworkflow has 1,324 stars, 66 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Inngest leads on adoption by 342% (5,853 vs 1,324 stars). Inngest is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence; openworkflow is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Inngest has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, openworkflow 5%. openworkflow was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Inngest | openworkflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.9K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 358 | ⑂ 66 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Inngest if
- You weight community size — 5.9K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick openworkflow if
- You want the openworkflow 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 openworkflow fits your workflow better
About Inngest
Inngest is an open source workflow orchestration platform that lets developers write durable, event driven step functions in their existing language SDKs and run them on serverless, long running servers, or the edge.
read the full Inngest overview →
About openworkflow
OpenWorkflow is an open source TypeScript framework for building durable, resumable workflows on Node.js and Bun, aimed at developers who need long running background work to survive crashes and deploys without operating extra servers.
read the full openworkflow 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 Inngest or openworkflow more popular?
Inngest has 5,853 GitHub stars and openworkflow has 1,324. Inngest has the larger community by that measure.
Are Inngest and openworkflow free?
Both are open source. Inngest has no licence declared in this registry, and openworkflow is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Inngest and openworkflow?
Inngest is written in Go and openworkflow 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, Inngest or openworkflow?
Choose Inngest if you want the larger community (5,853 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose openworkflow if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.