head to head · open source
workflow-core vs openworkflow
workflow-core has 5,926 GitHub stars, 1,262 forks, 133 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. openworkflow has 1,324 stars, 66 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped yesterday. workflow-core leads on adoption by 348% (5,926 vs 1,324 stars). workflow-core is written in C# under MIT; openworkflow is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. workflow-core has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, openworkflow 5%. openworkflow 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 | openworkflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.9K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C# | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 66 |
| 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 openworkflow if
- You want the openworkflow feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openworkflow fits your workflow better
About workflow-core
Workflow Core is a lightweight, embeddable workflow engine targeting .NET Standard, written in C and released under the MIT license. It lives in the .NET ecosystem, distributed as NuGet packages, and is built around the idea of long running processes that contain multiple tasks and must track their state between steps. Rather than running as a separate server, it is a library that is hosted inside an application, and it exposes a fluent C API for defining workflows. Workflows are expressed as a starting step followed by chained steps, and the same class can declare inputs and outputs that move data from one step …
read the full workflow-core overview →
About openworkflow
OpenWorkflow is an open source TypeScript framework for building durable, resumable workflows on Node.js and Bun, aimed at developers who need long running background work to survive crashes and deploys without operating extra servers.
read the full openworkflow overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is workflow-core or openworkflow more popular?
workflow-core has 5,926 GitHub stars and openworkflow has 1,324. workflow-core has the larger community by that measure.
Are workflow-core and openworkflow free?
Both are open source. workflow-core is licensed under MIT and openworkflow under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between workflow-core and openworkflow?
workflow-core is written in C# and openworkflow 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 openworkflow?
Choose workflow-core if you want the larger community (5,926 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose openworkflow if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.