head to head · open source
Windmill vs ODS
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars, 1,135 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ODS has 7,753 stars, 1,102 forks, 2,618 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Windmill leads on adoption by 137% (18,370 vs 7,753 stars). Windmill is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; ODS is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Windmill has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ODS 14%. ODS 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, self-hosted), 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 | ODS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 7.8K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 ODS if
- You want the ODS 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 ODS 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 ODS
ODS Osmantic Deployment System Turn your PC, Mac, or Linux box into a private AI server. AI server and homelab setup is rapidly becoming a solved problem. It should feel that way for everyone. ODS installs and wires together everything you need to run AI locally, so you do not have to assemble Ollama, Open WebUI, n8n, ComfyUI, and privacy tools by hand: Local model inference — run open models on your own hardware ChatGPT style web UI — talk to your models from any browser Control dashboard — manage models, services, setup, GPU status, and extensions from one place Voice, agents, and workflows — build automations…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Windmill or ODS more popular?
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars and ODS has 7,753. Windmill has the larger community by that measure.
Are Windmill and ODS free?
Both are open source. Windmill has no licence declared in this registry, and ODS is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Windmill and ODS?
Windmill is written in Rust and ODS 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, Windmill or ODS?
Choose Windmill if you want the larger community (18,370 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ODS if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.