head to head · open source
Kestra vs smythos-studio
Kestra has 28,827 GitHub stars, 3,174 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. smythos-studio has 555 stars, 82 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 5,094% (28,827 vs 555 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; smythos-studio is written in TypeScript under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, smythos-studio 15%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Kestra | smythos-studio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 555 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-04-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 82 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kestra if
- You weight community size — 29K 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 smythos-studio if
- You want the smythos-studio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and smythos-studio 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 smythos-studio
SmythOS Studio is an open source visual builder and deployable runtime stack from SmythOS for creating, testing, and hosting AI agents through a drag and drop workspace that individuals and teams can run locally, in the cloud, or at the edge.
read the full smythos-studio 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 smythos-studio more popular?
Kestra has 28,827 GitHub stars and smythos-studio has 555. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and smythos-studio free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and smythos-studio under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and smythos-studio?
Kestra is written in Java and smythos-studio 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 smythos-studio?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,827 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose smythos-studio if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.