head to head · open source
Kestra vs resque-scheduler
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars, 2,997 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. resque-scheduler has 1,746 stars, 477 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 1,512% (28,146 vs 1,746 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; resque-scheduler is written in Ruby under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, resque-scheduler 27%. 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Kestra | resque-scheduler | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 477 |
| 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 resque-scheduler if
- You want the resque-scheduler feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and resque-scheduler 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 resque-scheduler
resque scheduler is a light weight job scheduling system built on top of Resque, an extension that adds support for queueing items in the future for Ruby applications that already run background jobs through Resque.
read the full resque-scheduler overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or resque-scheduler more popular?
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars and resque-scheduler has 1,746. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and resque-scheduler free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and resque-scheduler under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and resque-scheduler?
Kestra is written in Java and resque-scheduler in Ruby. 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 resque-scheduler?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,146 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose resque-scheduler if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.