head to head · open source
Prefect vs Mage
Prefect has 23,857 GitHub stars, 2,528 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mage has 8,823 stars, 990 forks, 624 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Prefect leads on adoption by 170% (23,857 vs 8,823 stars). Prefect is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Mage is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Prefect has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Mage 11%. Prefect was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (data, data-engineering, data-science, 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Prefect | Mage | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 990 |
| 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 Mage if
- You want the Mage feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Mage 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 Mage
Mage is an Apache 2.0 licensed, self hosted development environment for building, running, and managing data pipelines, aimed at data engineers, data scientists, and analytics teams who want to develop ETL, ELT, and orchestration workflows locally before scaling them.
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 Prefect or Mage more popular?
Prefect has 23,857 GitHub stars and Mage has 8,823. Prefect has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prefect and Mage free?
Both are open source. Prefect is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Mage under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prefect and Mage?
Prefect is written in Python and Mage in Python. 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 Mage?
Choose Prefect if you want the larger community (23,857 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Mage if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.