head to head · open source
Kestra vs rowboat
Kestra has 30,122 GitHub stars, 3,495 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rowboat has 18,126 stars, 1,816 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kestra leads on adoption by 66% (30,122 vs 18,126 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Kestra has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, rowboat 10%. 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 | rowboat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 18K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 rowboat if
- You want the rowboat 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 rowboat 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 rowboat
Rowboat A desktop AI coworker with a memory of your work and built in surfaces to act on it. 简体中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português Rowboat indexes your work into a living knowledge graph and uses that to get work done on your machine. It includes work surfaces for collaborating with AI: email client, notes, browser, code mode, meeting note taker, and workspaces for different projects. Download latest for Mac/Windows/Linux: Download Demo apps to code · Demo knowledge graph ⭐ If you find Rowboat useful, please star the repo. It helps more people find it. Overview Brain Rowboat indexes email, meetings…
read the full rowboat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or rowboat more popular?
Kestra has 30,122 GitHub stars and rowboat has 18,126. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and rowboat free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rowboat under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and rowboat?
Kestra is written in Java and rowboat 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 rowboat?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (30,122 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rowboat if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.