head to head · open source
conductor vs xxl-job
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars, 1,051 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xxl-job has 30,648 stars, 11,492 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. conductor leads on adoption by 6% (32,401 vs 30,648 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; xxl-job is written in Java under GPL-3.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, xxl-job 37%. conductor was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (java), 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
| conductor | xxl-job | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 31K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 11K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick conductor if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick xxl-job if
- You want the xxl-job feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and xxl-job fits your workflow better
About conductor
Conductor Durable Execution for Workflows and Agents Build agents that adapt. Run graphs that endure. Conductor is an open source durable execution platform for microservices, AI agents, and adaptive workflow graphs. It turns runtime choices—loops, branching, fan out, tool calls, approvals, retries, and cancellation—into durable, inspectable execution. It originated at Netflix and is actively maintained by Orkes and the community. Get Running in 60 Seconds Prerequisites: Node.js v16+ and Java 21+ must be installed. Open — your server is running with the built in ui next UI. Upgrading from a previous version? The…
read the full conductor overview →
About xxl-job
XXL JOB XXL JOB, a distributed task scheduling framework. Home Page Introduction XXL JOB is a distributed task scheduling framework. It's core design goal is to develop quickly and learn simple, lightweight, and easy to expand. Now, it's already open source, and many companies use it in production environments, real "out of the box". XXL JOB是一个分布式任务调度平台，其核心设计目标是开发迅速、学习简单、轻量级、易扩展。现已开放源代码并接入多家公司线上产品线，开箱即用。 Sponsor XXL JOB is an open source and free project, with its ongoing development made possible entirely by the support of these awesome backers. XXL JOB 是一个开源且免费项目，其正在进行的开发完全得益于支持者的支持。开源不易，前往赞助项目开发 金牌赞助方 阿里云…
read the full xxl-job overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or xxl-job more popular?
conductor has 32,401 GitHub stars and xxl-job has 30,648. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and xxl-job free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and xxl-job under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and xxl-job?
conductor is written in Java and xxl-job in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, conductor or xxl-job?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,401 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose xxl-job if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.