head to head · open source
Kestra vs gocron
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars, 2,999 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gocron has 809 stars, 62 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 3,379% (28,148 vs 809 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; gocron is written in Go under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, gocron 8%. Kestra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | gocron | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 809 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 62 |
| 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 gocron if
- You want the gocron feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and gocron 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 gocron
gocron A lightweight distributed scheduled task management system developed in Go, designed to replace Linux crontab. English · 简体中文 Agent Auto Registration Task Management AI Failure Diagnosis 📖 Documentation Full documentation is available at: document 🚀 Quick Start Installation and deployment guide 🤖 Agent Auto Registration One click task node deployment ⚙️ Configuration Detailed configuration guide 🔌 API Documentation API reference ✨ Features Web Interface : Intuitive task management interface Second level Precision : Supports Crontab expressions with second precision High Availability : Database lock bas…
read the full gocron overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or gocron more popular?
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars and gocron has 809. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and gocron free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and gocron under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and gocron?
Kestra is written in Java and gocron 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 gocron?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,148 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose gocron if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.