head to head · open source
workflow-core vs loonflow
workflow-core has 5,939 GitHub stars, 1,260 forks, 133 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. loonflow has 2,095 stars, 706 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. workflow-core leads on adoption by 183% (5,939 vs 2,095 stars). workflow-core is written in C# under MIT; loonflow is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. workflow-core has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, loonflow 34%. loonflow was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (workflow, workflow-engine), 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
| workflow-core | loonflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.9K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 706 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick workflow-core if
- You weight community size — 5.9K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick loonflow if
- You want the loonflow 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 loonflow fits your workflow better
About workflow-core
Workflow Core Workflow Core is a light weight embeddable workflow engine targeting .NET Standard. Think: long running processes with multiple tasks that need to track state. It supports pluggable persistence and concurrency providers to allow for multi node clusters. Announcements New related project: Conductor Conductor is a stand alone workflow server as opposed to a library that uses Workflow Core internally. It exposes an API that allows you to store workflow definitions, track running workflows, manage events and define custom steps and scripts for usage in your workflows. Documentation See Tutorial here…
read the full workflow-core overview →
About loonflow
Loonflow 3.0 Intelligent and Visual Process Automation System Dedicated to providing enterprise grade unified workflow solutions English 简体中文 Loonflow 3.0 A Fresh Start Loonflow is an open source process automation platform developed based on Django. After multiple versions of iteration and refactoring, we proudly present Loonflow 3.0 a version that achieves a qualitative leap in visualization, flexibility, and scalability. The core of version 3.0 is "making complex business processes simple and visual, making personalized customization needs within reach." Not only have we rebuilt the process and form…
read the full loonflow overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is workflow-core or loonflow more popular?
workflow-core has 5,939 GitHub stars and loonflow has 2,095. workflow-core has the larger community by that measure.
Are workflow-core and loonflow free?
Both are open source. workflow-core is licensed under MIT and loonflow under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between workflow-core and loonflow?
workflow-core is written in C# and loonflow 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, workflow-core or loonflow?
Choose workflow-core if you want the larger community (5,939 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose loonflow if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.