Huginn vs Kestra
Huginn and Kestra are both workflow automation software. Huginn is open source under MIT, with 50k GitHub stars. Kestra is open source under Apache-2.0, with 30k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Huginn when
- You want IFTTT-style monitoring and automations on your own server and are comfortable with Rails.
- Pick Kestra when
- You need Airflow-class orchestration but want YAML flows, any language, and a UI non-Python people can use.
Side by side
A self-hosted automation system where agents watch websites, feeds and APIs, and react by sending notifications or calling other services.
An orchestration platform where workflows for data, infrastructure and business processes are declared in YAML and run on schedules or events, with a web UI.
The UI is dated, and building agents takes JSON configuration rather than a visual editor.
Features such as SSO and multi-tenancy are in the paid enterprise edition.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server
Self-hosted server and cloud service
Ruby, Rails, PostgreSQL and MySQL
Java, Vue, TypeScript and PostgreSQL
Open source, MIT (permissive)
Open source, Apache-2.0 (permissive)
You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice. (both)
50k GitHub stars
30k GitHub stars
Established: started 13 years ago, latest release v2026.11.01.
Established: started 7 years ago, latest release v2.0.7.
Other comparisons
More workflow automation tools
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from each project's README and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.