head to head · open source
Kestra vs agent-swarm
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars, 3,005 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. agent-swarm has 810 stars, 105 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped today. Kestra leads on adoption by 3,379% (28,181 vs 810 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; agent-swarm is written in TypeScript under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, agent-swarm 13%. agent-swarm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-agents), 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 | agent-swarm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 810 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 105 |
| 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 agent-swarm if
- You want the agent-swarm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and agent-swarm 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 agent-swarm
Agent Swarm is an MIT licensed, self hosted orchestration engine that runs a lead agent delegating goals to worker agents inside isolated Docker containers, built for teams that want their company to become AI native while keeping the work on their own infrastructure.
read the full agent-swarm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or agent-swarm more popular?
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars and agent-swarm has 810. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and agent-swarm free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and agent-swarm under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and agent-swarm?
Kestra is written in Java and agent-swarm 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, Kestra or agent-swarm?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,181 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose agent-swarm if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.