head to head · open source
Windmill vs Ethora
Windmill has 17,982 GitHub stars, 1,097 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped today. Ethora has 546 stars, 111 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Windmill leads on adoption by 3,193% (17,982 vs 546 stars). Windmill is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; Ethora is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. Windmill has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Ethora 20%. Windmill was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (low-code), 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
| Windmill | Ethora | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 546 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 111 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Windmill if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Ethora if
- You want the Ethora feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Ethora fits your workflow better
About Windmill
Windmill is an open source developer platform for internal code, including APIs, background jobs, workflows, and UIs. It lives in the self hostable low code automation ecosystem and supports Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, GraphQL, PowerShell, Rust, and more. The project is positioned as an open source alternative to Zapier and, in the README, to Retool, Pipedream, Superblocks, and a simplified Temporal.
read the full Windmill overview →
About Ethora
Ethora is an Apache 2.0 licensed chat, AI and messaging SDK monorepo that adds real time messaging, prebuilt chat UI, bots and backend services to web, iOS and Android applications, and it is aimed at product teams that would rather integrate a messaging layer than assemble one.
read the full Ethora overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Windmill or Ethora more popular?
Windmill has 17,982 GitHub stars and Ethora has 546. Windmill has the larger community by that measure.
Are Windmill and Ethora free?
Both are open source. Windmill has no licence declared in this registry, and Ethora is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Windmill and Ethora?
Windmill is written in Rust and Ethora in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Windmill or Ethora?
Choose Windmill if you want the larger community (17,982 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Ethora if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.