head to head · open source
Kestra vs cli-agent-orchestrator
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars, 2,999 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cli-agent-orchestrator has 1,312 stars, 272 forks, 151 open issues and last shipped today. Kestra leads on adoption by 2,045% (28,148 vs 1,312 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; cli-agent-orchestrator is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, cli-agent-orchestrator 21%. cli-agent-orchestrator 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 | cli-agent-orchestrator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 272 |
| 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 cli-agent-orchestrator if
- You want the cli-agent-orchestrator 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 cli-agent-orchestrator 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 cli-agent-orchestrator
CLI Agent Orchestrator (CAO) English 简体中文 CLI Agent Orchestrator (CAO) coordinates multiple AI coding CLIs so a supervisor can delegate work to specialist agents in parallel or sequence. 📚 Documentation — guides, reference, and two interactive courses. What CAO does CAO runs a local cao server , starts provider CLIs in isolated terminal sessions, and gives a supervisor tools for coordinating workers. The agents remain full CLI processes with their native authentication and capabilities. See CODEBASE.md for the runtime architecture and package layout. Prerequisites Install: Python 3.10 or later tmux 3.3 or later …
read the full cli-agent-orchestrator overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or cli-agent-orchestrator more popular?
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars and cli-agent-orchestrator has 1,312. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and cli-agent-orchestrator free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cli-agent-orchestrator under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and cli-agent-orchestrator?
Kestra is written in Java and cli-agent-orchestrator 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, Kestra or cli-agent-orchestrator?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,148 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cli-agent-orchestrator if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.