head to head · open source
xxl-job vs workflow
xxl-job has 30,648 GitHub stars, 11,492 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. workflow has 2,487 stars, 387 forks, 360 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xxl-job leads on adoption by 1,132% (30,648 vs 2,487 stars). xxl-job is written in Java under GPL-3.0; workflow is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. xxl-job has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, workflow 16%. workflow 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| xxl-job | workflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-09 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 387 |
| 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 workflow if
- You want the workflow 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 workflow fits your workflow better
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 →
About workflow
Workflow SDK Workflow SDK makes TypeScript and JavaScript functions durable. It persists workflow progress, retries failed steps, and provides built in observability. Workflows can suspend without using compute while they wait. Quick start Install the SDK in an existing project: Configure the integration for your framework. For example, with Next.js: Then start a workflow from an API route, Server Action, or other server side code: Run your app, then open the local observability UI in another terminal: Choose your framework in the getting started guides. [!NOTE] The workflow package includes its full…
read the full workflow overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is xxl-job or workflow more popular?
xxl-job has 30,648 GitHub stars and workflow has 2,487. xxl-job has the larger community by that measure.
Are xxl-job and workflow free?
Both are open source. xxl-job is licensed under GPL-3.0 and workflow under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between xxl-job and workflow?
xxl-job is written in Java and workflow 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, xxl-job or workflow?
Choose xxl-job if you want the larger community (30,648 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose workflow if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.