head to head · open source
xxl-job vs Kestra
xxl-job has 30,562 GitHub stars, 11,486 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Kestra has 28,146 stars, 2,997 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xxl-job leads on adoption by 9% (30,562 vs 28,146 stars). xxl-job is written in Java under GPL-3.0; Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0. xxl-job has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, Kestra 11%. Kestra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| xxl-job | Kestra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 28K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-07-21 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick xxl-job if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Kestra if
- You want the Kestra feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Kestra fits your workflow better
About xxl-job
XXL JOB is a distributed task scheduling framework written in Java and released under the GPL 3.0 licence, built for teams that need scheduled jobs to run reliably across a cluster of machines rather than inside a single application process.
read the full xxl-job overview →
About Kestra
Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It operates in the Java based ecosystem and is licensed under Apache 2.0. The project provides a unified interface for both scheduled and real time automation, supporting declarative workflow definitions in YAML while also offering visual and AI assisted authoring.
read the full Kestra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is xxl-job or Kestra more popular?
xxl-job has 30,562 GitHub stars and Kestra has 28,146. xxl-job has the larger community by that measure.
Are xxl-job and Kestra free?
Both are open source. xxl-job is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Kestra under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between xxl-job and Kestra?
xxl-job is written in Java and Kestra 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, xxl-job or Kestra?
Choose xxl-job if you want the larger community (30,562 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Kestra if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.