head to head · open source
Kestra vs sre
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars, 3,005 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sre has 1,293 stars, 202 forks, 35 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 2,080% (28,181 vs 1,293 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; sre is written in TypeScript under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, sre 16%. 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 | sre | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-04-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 202 |
| 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 sre if
- You want the sre feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and sre 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 sre
The SmythOS Runtime Environment (SRE) is an open source, cloud native runtime, SDK, and command line interface that developers use to build, run, and manage agentic AI across local, cloud, and edge environments.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or sre more popular?
Kestra has 28,181 GitHub stars and sre has 1,293. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and sre free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sre under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and sre?
Kestra is written in Java and sre 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 sre?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,181 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose sre if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.