head to head · open source
rowboat vs Dagu
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars, 1,817 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dagu has 4,542 stars, 394 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rowboat leads on adoption by 299% (18,131 vs 4,542 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Dagu is written in Go under GPL-3.0. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Dagu 9%. Dagu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, llm), 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
| rowboat | Dagu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 394 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rowboat if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Dagu if
- You want the Dagu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Dagu fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat A desktop AI coworker with a memory of your work and built in surfaces to act on it. 简体中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português Rowboat indexes your work into a living knowledge graph and uses that to get work done on your machine. It includes work surfaces for collaborating with AI: email client, notes, browser, code mode, meeting note taker, and workspaces for different projects. Download latest for Mac/Windows/Linux: Download Demo apps to code · Demo knowledge graph ⭐ If you find Rowboat useful, please star the repo. It helps more people find it. Overview Brain Rowboat indexes email, meetings…
read the full rowboat overview →
About Dagu
Docs · CLI · API · Examples · Live demo (username/password: demouser) · Discord Dagu Dagu is a local first workflow engine for operations and internal automation. It is open source and self hostable: a single binary with a built in Web UI, no external database or message broker, running on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Define DAGs in a declarative YAML format. It natively supports shell commands, Docker containers, Kubernetes Jobs, remote commands via SSH, and more through Dagu Actions. Dagu turns existing scripts and runbooks into production workflows with scheduling, retries, human tasks, and run history. It runs…
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or Dagu more popular?
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars and Dagu has 4,542. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and Dagu free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Dagu under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and Dagu?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and Dagu 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, rowboat or Dagu?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (18,131 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Dagu if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.