Earthly vs Kestra
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Earthly
Repeatable, container-based builds for CI
VS
Kestra
Declarative orchestration and scheduling platform
| Feature | Earthly | Kestra |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CI/CD & Build | Automation & Workflows |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,049 | ★ 27,575 |
| First released | 2020 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Make, GitHub Actions | Zapier, Make |
Why pick each one
Choose Earthly if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 12k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose Kestra if…
- Strong for data orchestration
- Scalable architecture
- Open-source license
Frequently asked questions
Is Earthly or Kestra better?
Neither is universally better. Kestra has the larger community, while Earthly is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Earthly and Kestra free and open-source?
Yes. Earthly is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Kestra under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Earthly and Kestra with Docker?
Earthly: yes. Kestra: yes.