head to head · open source
Prefect vs dolphinscheduler
Prefect has 23,857 GitHub stars, 2,528 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dolphinscheduler has 14,482 stars, 5,092 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Prefect leads on adoption by 65% (23,857 vs 14,482 stars). Prefect is written in Python under Apache-2.0; dolphinscheduler is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Prefect has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, dolphinscheduler 35%. Prefect was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (orchestration), 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
| Prefect | dolphinscheduler | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 14K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 5.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Prefect if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dolphinscheduler if
- You want the dolphinscheduler feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and dolphinscheduler fits your workflow better
About Prefect
Prefect is an open source, Python native workflow orchestration framework that lets data and machine learning teams turn ordinary Python scripts into scheduled, resilient, observable production pipelines.
read the full Prefect overview →
About dolphinscheduler
Apache DolphinScheduler is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Java based data orchestration platform for data engineers, analytics teams and platform operators who need to schedule complex task dependencies across data pipelines without building the control plane themselves.
read the full dolphinscheduler overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prefect or dolphinscheduler more popular?
Prefect has 23,857 GitHub stars and dolphinscheduler has 14,482. Prefect has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prefect and dolphinscheduler free?
Both are open source. Prefect is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dolphinscheduler under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prefect and dolphinscheduler?
Prefect is written in Python and dolphinscheduler in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Prefect or dolphinscheduler?
Choose Prefect if you want the larger community (23,857 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dolphinscheduler if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.