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Apache Airflow vs Conductor OSS

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
AP Apache Airflow Programmatically author, schedule and monitor workflows VS CO Conductor OSS Microservices and workflow orchestration engine
FeatureApache AirflowConductor OSS
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score100 · Excellent98 · Excellent
CategoryAutomation & WorkflowsAutomation & Workflows
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonJava
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM4,096 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmdocker, kubernetes, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 46,957★ 32,227
First released20152016
ReplacesAWS Step Functions, Azure Data FactoryAWS Step Functions, Camunda

What are Apache Airflow and Conductor OSS?

Apache Airflow

Apache Airflow is a platform to author, schedule and monitor workflows as directed acyclic graphs of tasks. It is widely used for data engineering pipelines and complex job orchestration.

  • Workflows defined as Python code
  • Rich scheduling and dependency management
  • Extensive operator and provider ecosystem
  • Web UI for monitoring DAGs

Read the full Apache Airflow guide →

Conductor OSS

Conductor is a platform created to orchestrate microservices and business processes at scale. It lets teams define workflows as JSON and run them across distributed task workers.

  • JSON-defined workflows
  • Distributed task workers
  • Visual workflow editor
  • Built for microservice orchestration

Read the full Conductor OSS guide →

Apache Airflow vs Conductor OSS: key differences

Apache Airflow is written in Python, while Conductor OSS is built with Java. Conductor OSS is the lighter option, starting around 2,048 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Apache Airflow.

Why pick each one

Choose Apache Airflow if…

  • Industry standard for data pipelines
  • Huge ecosystem

Watch out for

  • Heavy to operate
  • Steep learning curve
Apache Airflow details

Choose Conductor OSS if…

  • Battle-tested at scale
  • Language-agnostic workers

Watch out for

  • Java stack is resource heavy
Conductor OSS details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apache Airflow or Conductor OSS better?

Neither is universally better. Apache Airflow has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Apache Airflow and Conductor OSS free and open-source?

Yes. Apache Airflow is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Conductor OSS under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Apache Airflow and Conductor OSS with Docker?

Apache Airflow: yes. Conductor OSS: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Apache Airflow or Conductor OSS?

Conductor OSS has the smaller minimum footprint at 2,048 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Apache Airflow. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.

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