head to head · open source
Windmill vs Ethora
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars, 1,135 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ethora has 552 stars, 112 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Windmill leads on adoption by 3,228% (18,370 vs 552 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.
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 | ★ 552 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 112 |
| 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
Open source developer platform for internal code: APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs. Self hostable alternative to Retool, Pipedream, Superblocks and a simplified Temporal with autogenerated UIs and custom UIs to trigger workflows and scripts as internal apps. Scripts are turned into sharable UIs automatically, and can be composed together into flows or used into richer apps built with low code. Supported languages: Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, GraphQL, PowerShell, Rust, and more. Try it Website Docs Discord Hub Contributing Windmill Developer platform for APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs…
read the full Windmill overview →
About Ethora
Ethora — SDK Monorepo Chat, AI and messaging SDK platform. Add real time messaging, AI bots, and backend services to your app in minutes. This repository serves as the SDK monorepo — a single place to discover, clone, and navigate all Ethora SDKs, tools, and sample apps. Each component lives in its own focused repository, linked here as git submodules. Ecosystem Feature coverage across SDKs Quick glance at what each SDK supports. Full matrix with evidence: features/ · Source: features/features.yaml Legend: ✅ Present · 🟡 Partial · 🛠 Roadmap · — Absent Coverage (present + partial×0.5) / 44 features: React.js 77%…
read the full Ethora overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Windmill or Ethora more popular?
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars and Ethora has 552. 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 (18,370 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.