head to head · open source
xxl-job vs Temporal
xxl-job has 30,562 GitHub stars, 11,486 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Temporal has 23,133 stars, 1,905 forks, 956 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xxl-job leads on adoption by 32% (30,562 vs 23,133 stars). xxl-job is written in Java under GPL-3.0; Temporal is written in Go under MIT. xxl-job has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, Temporal 8%. Temporal 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 | Temporal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 23K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-21 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| 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 Temporal if
- You want the Temporal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Temporal 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 Temporal
Temporal is a durable execution platform for building resilient applications with workflows. It lives in the infrastructure and operations ecosystem, specifically within orchestration and scheduling. The server executes units of application logic called Workflows and automatically handles intermittent failures by retrying failed operations. Temporal originated as a fork of Uber's Cadence and is developed by Temporal Technologies, a startup formed by the creators of Cadence.
read the full Temporal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is xxl-job or Temporal more popular?
xxl-job has 30,562 GitHub stars and Temporal has 23,133. xxl-job has the larger community by that measure.
Are xxl-job and Temporal free?
Both are open source. xxl-job is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Temporal under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between xxl-job and Temporal?
xxl-job is written in Java and Temporal in Go. 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 Temporal?
Choose xxl-job if you want the larger community (30,562 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Temporal if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.