head to head · open source
Kestra vs werf
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars, 2,997 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. werf has 4,721 stars, 239 forks, 30 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kestra leads on adoption by 496% (28,146 vs 4,721 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; werf is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, werf 5%. Kestra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (devops), 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 | werf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 239 |
| 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 werf if
- You want the werf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and werf 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 werf
werf is a CNCF Sandbox command line tool, written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, that implements full cycle CI/CD to Kubernetes for teams that already build container images and deploy with Helm but want one tool to carry an application from build through deploy, release artifacts and container registry cleanup.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or werf more popular?
Kestra has 28,146 GitHub stars and werf has 4,721. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and werf free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and werf under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and werf?
Kestra is written in Java and werf in Go. 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 werf?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,146 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose werf if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.