head to head · open source
Temporal vs Mage
Temporal has 24,138 GitHub stars, 2,068 forks, 956 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mage has 8,840 stars, 994 forks, 624 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Temporal leads on adoption by 173% (24,138 vs 8,840 stars). Temporal is written in Go under MIT; Mage is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Temporal has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Mage 11%. Temporal was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Temporal | Mage | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 994 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Temporal if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 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 →
About Mage
Mage OSS Build modern data pipelines locally — fast, visual, and production ready. Mage OSS is a self hosted development environment designed to help teams create production grade data pipelines with confidence. Ideal for automating ETL tasks, architecting data flow, or orchestrating transformations — all in a fast, notebook style interface powered by modular code. When it’s time to scale, Mage Pro — our core platform — unlocks enterprise orchestration, collaboration, and AI powered workflows. What you can do with Mage OSS Build pipelines locally with Python, SQL, or R in a modular notebook style UI Run jobs…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Temporal or Mage more popular?
Temporal has 24,138 GitHub stars and Mage has 8,840. Temporal has the larger community by that measure.
Are Temporal and Mage free?
Both are open source. Temporal is licensed under MIT and Mage under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Temporal and Mage?
Temporal is written in Go 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, Temporal or Mage?
Choose Temporal if you want the larger community (24,138 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Mage if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.