head to head · open source
Windmill vs web-builder
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars, 1,135 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped yesterday. web-builder has 585 stars, 99 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Windmill leads on adoption by 3,040% (18,370 vs 585 stars). Windmill is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; web-builder is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Windmill has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, web-builder 17%. Windmill was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-agents), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Windmill | web-builder | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 585 |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 99 |
| 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 web-builder if
- You want the web-builder feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and web-builder 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 web-builder
信使 Web builder AI 生成UI和工具应用的低代码平台 AI 生成UI和工具应用的低代码平台，国内首款开源的基于 Drupal 作为 Headless 的低代码，基于 TailwindCss，通过拖拽可视化快速构建现代化响应式UI、动态自定义组件、多主题、多语言的网站应用。AI powered UI generation and publishing low code platform, built on TailwindCSS, enabling rapid drag and drop visual creation of modern responsive UIs, dynamic customizable components, multi theme, and multi language web applications. Builder CMS · Web Builder Skills · 信使小程序 · 文档 · 知乎 · Docker 部署 观看演示视频 奥陌陌是已知的第一颗经过太阳系的星际天体，意为"远方信使"。 web builder Builder 预览 Builder Pro 预览 基于AI大模型生成UI、页面和工具应用，欢迎体验。 Web Builder Skills Web Builder Skills 是为 Web Builder 提供的 Claude Code 技能包，覆盖…
read the full web-builder overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Automation projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Automation field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Windmill or web-builder more popular?
Windmill has 18,370 GitHub stars and web-builder has 585. Windmill has the larger community by that measure.
Are Windmill and web-builder free?
Both are open source. Windmill has no licence declared in this registry, and web-builder is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Windmill and web-builder?
Windmill is written in Rust and web-builder in TypeScript. 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 web-builder?
Choose Windmill if you want the larger community (18,370 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose web-builder if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.