head to head · open source
Kestra vs openworkflow
Kestra has 30,122 GitHub stars, 3,495 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openworkflow has 1,346 stars, 73 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 2,138% (30,122 vs 1,346 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; openworkflow is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Kestra has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, openworkflow 5%. 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 | openworkflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 73 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kestra if
- You weight community size — 30K 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 openworkflow if
- You want the openworkflow feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openworkflow fits your workflow better
About Kestra
Open source orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows Click on the image to learn how to get started with Kestra in 3 minutes. 🌟 What is Kestra? Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It unifies scheduled and event driven automation behind a declarative, language agnostic interface. By bringing Infrastructure as Code best practices to your data, process, and microservice pipelines, you can build reliable workflows directly from the UI in just a few lines of YAML, let the built in AI Copilot write them for you, or generate…
read the full Kestra overview →
About openworkflow
OpenWorkflow OpenWorkflow is a TypeScript framework for building durable, resumable workflows that can pause for seconds or months, survive crashes and deploys, and resume exactly where they left off all without extra servers to manage. Quick Start The CLI will guide you through setup and generate everything you need to get started. Documentation Documentation Quick Start Guide Core Concepts Advanced Patterns Production Checklist OpenTelemetry Architecture Read ARCHITECTURE.md for a deep dive into how OpenWorkflow works under the hood. Examples Check out examples/ for working examples. Contributing We welcome…
read the full openworkflow overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or openworkflow more popular?
Kestra has 30,122 GitHub stars and openworkflow has 1,346. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and openworkflow free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openworkflow under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and openworkflow?
Kestra is written in Java and openworkflow 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 openworkflow?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (30,122 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openworkflow if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.