head to head · open source
Kestra vs Archon
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars, 2,997 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Archon has 23,495 stars, 3,474 forks, 321 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kestra leads on adoption by 20% (28,146 vs 23,495 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Archon is written in TypeScript under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Archon 15%. Kestra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (automation), 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 | Archon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 23K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| 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 Archon if
- You want the Archon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Archon 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 Archon
Archon is an open source workflow engine for AI coding agents, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license. It lives in the AI coding ecosystem, alongside tools such as Claude Code, and is distributed through the Bun runtime and the GitHub CLI. The project describes itself as a harness builder: it lets a developer encode a development process as a YAML workflow and then run that workflow reliably across projects. Workflows are stored in a .archon/workflows/ directory and committed to the repository, so the same definition can be invoked from the CLI, a web UI, Slack, Telegram, or GitHub.…
read the full Archon overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or Archon more popular?
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars and Archon has 23,495. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and Archon free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Archon under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and Archon?
Kestra is written in Java and Archon 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 Archon?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,146 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Archon if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.