Appsmith vs Windmill
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Windmill
Developer platform for scripts, flows and apps
| Feature | Appsmith | Windmill |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 40,931 | ★ 18,022 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Retool, Microsoft Power Apps | Zapier, Retool |
What are Appsmith and Windmill?
Appsmith
Appsmith is an open-source framework for quickly building admin panels, dashboards and internal tools. It includes workflow logic and scheduled jobs to automate business processes.
- Drag-and-drop UI builder
- Connects to databases and APIs
- JavaScript-powered logic
- Self-hosted with role-based access
Windmill
Windmill is a developer platform that turns scripts into workflows, APIs, and internal apps with scheduling and approvals. It targets engineers automating internal tooling. It is deployed via Docker with PostgreSQL.
- Scripts in Python, TypeScript and more
- Auto-generated UIs for scripts
- Flows with branching and retries
- Fast Rust execution engine
Appsmith vs Windmill: key differences
Appsmith is written in TypeScript, while Windmill is built with Rust. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Appsmith versus AGPL-3.0 for Windmill. Windmill is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Appsmith. Appsmith is the more established project (first released 2020), while Windmill arrived in 2022. Appsmith has the considerably larger community, at 40,931 GitHub stars versus 18,022.
Why pick each one
Choose Appsmith if…
- Mature low-code tooling
- Large community
Watch out for
- Memory hungry
Choose Windmill if…
- Great for developer automation
- Fast and scalable
- Code-first approach
Watch out for
- More technical than no-code tools
- Requires Postgres
Frequently asked questions
Is Appsmith or Windmill better?
Neither is universally better. Appsmith has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Appsmith and Windmill free and open-source?
Yes. Appsmith is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Windmill under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Appsmith and Windmill with Docker?
Appsmith: yes. Windmill: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Appsmith or Windmill?
Windmill has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Appsmith. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.