head to head · open source
xxl-job vs workflow
xxl-job has 30,562 GitHub stars, 11,486 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. workflow has 2,416 stars, 361 forks, 360 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xxl-job leads on adoption by 1,165% (30,562 vs 2,416 stars). xxl-job is written in Java under GPL-3.0; workflow is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. xxl-job has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, workflow 15%. 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.
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Side by side
| xxl-job | workflow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-07-21 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 361 |
| 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 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 workflow
Workflow SDK is a TypeScript and JavaScript library that makes application functions durable. It lives in the TypeScript/JavaScript ecosystem and targets server side frameworks such as Next.js. The project is intended for apps and AI agents that need to continue work across failures, waits, and restarts.
read the full workflow overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is xxl-job or workflow more popular?
xxl-job has 30,562 GitHub stars and workflow has 2,416. 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 (30,562 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.