head to head · open source
conductor vs Temporal
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Temporal has 24,138 stars, 2,068 forks, 956 open issues and last shipped yesterday. conductor leads on adoption by 34% (32,401 vs 24,138 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Temporal is written in Go under MIT. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Temporal 9%. Temporal was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (distributed-systems, durable-execution, microservice-orchestration, orchestrator), 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
| conductor | Temporal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 24K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick conductor if
- You weight community size — 32K 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 Temporal if
- You want the Temporal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Temporal fits your workflow better
About conductor
Conductor Durable Execution for Workflows and Agents Build agents that adapt. Run graphs that endure. Conductor is an open source durable execution platform for microservices, AI agents, and adaptive workflow graphs. It turns runtime choices—loops, branching, fan out, tool calls, approvals, retries, and cancellation—into durable, inspectable execution. It originated at Netflix and is actively maintained by Orkes and the community. Get Running in 60 Seconds Prerequisites: Node.js v16+ and Java 21+ must be installed. Open — your server is running with the built in ui next UI. Upgrading from a previous version? The…
read the full conductor overview →
About Temporal
Temporal—durable execution platform Introduction • Getting Started • Contributing • Temporal Docs • Temporal 101 Introduction Temporal is a durable execution platform that enables developers to build scalable applications without sacrificing productivity or reliability. The Temporal server executes units of application logic called Workflows in a resilient manner that automatically handles intermittent failures, and retries failed operations. Temporal is a mature technology that originated as a fork of Uber's Cadence. It is developed by Temporal Technologies, a startup by the creators of…
read the full Temporal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or Temporal more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and Temporal has 24,138. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and Temporal free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Temporal under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and Temporal?
conductor is written in Java and Temporal 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, conductor or Temporal?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Temporal if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.