Conductor OSS vs Mage
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?
Conductor OSS
Microservices and workflow orchestration engine
VS
Mage
Open-source data pipeline tool for transforming and integrating data
| Feature | Conductor OSS | Mage |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 32,066 | ★ 8,789 |
| First released | 2016 | 2022 |
| Replaces | AWS Step Functions, Camunda | Azure Data Factory, Apache Airflow |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Conductor OSS or Mage better?
Neither is universally better. Conductor OSS has the larger community, while Mage is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Conductor OSS and Mage free and open-source?
Yes. Conductor OSS is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Mage under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Conductor OSS and Mage with Docker?
Conductor OSS: yes. Mage: yes.