head to head · open source
Kestra vs dmux
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars, 2,999 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dmux has 1,772 stars, 138 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 1,488% (28,148 vs 1,772 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; dmux is written in HTML under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, dmux 8%. Kestra 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 | dmux | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 138 |
| 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 dmux if
- You want the dmux feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and dmux 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 dmux
Parallel agents with tmux and worktrees Manage multiple AI coding agents in isolated git worktrees. Branch, develop, and merge — all in parallel. Documentation · Getting Started · Issues Language: English 日本語 Install Quick Start Press n to create a new pane, type a prompt, pick one or more agents (or none for a plain terminal), and dmux handles the rest — worktree, branch, and agent launch. On first run, dmux can configure a primary inference provider/model and an optional backup. It discovers models from the provider when possible and supports API key providers, custom OpenAI compatible…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or dmux more popular?
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars and dmux has 1,772. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and dmux free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dmux under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and dmux?
Kestra is written in Java and dmux in HTML. 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 dmux?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,148 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dmux if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.