head to head · open source
Kestra vs quirrel
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars, 2,997 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. quirrel has 927 stars, 68 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 2,936% (28,146 vs 927 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; quirrel is written in TypeScript under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, quirrel 7%. 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 | quirrel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 927 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 68 |
| 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 quirrel if
- You want the quirrel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and quirrel 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 quirrel
Quirrel is an open source task queueing solution built for serverless applications. It is written in TypeScript, distributed under the MIT license, and lives in the JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystem that surrounds serverless platforms such as Next.js deployments. The project describes itself as the task queueing solution for serverless, and its homepage and documentation sit at quirrel.dev and docs.quirrel.dev. The repository has been public for roughly six years, holds 928 stars and 68 forks, and was most recently pushed in September 2026. A notice in the README states that Quirrel joined Netlify, and the orig…
read the full quirrel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or quirrel more popular?
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars and quirrel has 927. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and quirrel free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and quirrel under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and quirrel?
Kestra is written in Java and quirrel 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 quirrel?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,146 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose quirrel if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.