head to head · open source
Kestra vs atmos
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars, 2,999 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. atmos has 1,379 stars, 175 forks, 289 open issues and last shipped today. Kestra leads on adoption by 1,941% (28,148 vs 1,379 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; atmos is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, atmos 13%. atmos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (automation, 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 | atmos | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 175 |
| 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 atmos if
- You want the atmos feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and atmos 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 atmos
Run your infrastructure anywhere. Atmos is the open source runtime for infrastructure — it builds, authenticates, and ships Terraform, OpenTofu, Kubernetes, Helm, and containers the same way on your laptop, in CI, and with AI agents. Auth, secrets, vendoring, caching, the toolchain, workflows, and CI are built in. Point every environment at the same reusable root modules and treat the rest as configuration. Stop stringing together 25 tools. Run it on your laptop. Run it the same in CI. Run it with agents. Everything is open source and free. [!TIP] You can try out atmos directly in your browser using GitHub Codesp…
read the full atmos overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or atmos more popular?
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars and atmos has 1,379. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and atmos free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and atmos under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and atmos?
Kestra is written in Java and atmos 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 atmos?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,148 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose atmos if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.