kestra vs unlazy
kestra is much bigger: 28.0k stars against 3.1k. Over the days we have tracked them kestra moved +4% and unlazy +164.7%, so unlazy is growing faster right now.
They split the axes: kestra leads on customization, unlazy on context depth and model freedom.
Stars and commit dates come from our own daily tracking. The six axes are read off each project's documentation by our review pipeline, so they describe what a project says about itself, not what we measured in its code.
Where they stand today
An event-driven, open-source orchestration platform that combines a declarative YAML workflow model with a rich plugin ecosystem and a visual editor for building and running workflows across environments.
- Stars
- 28.0k
- Tracked growth
- +4%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 13m ago
- Language
- Java
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Free, self-hosted
Implements the Depth Tree decomposition with a strict, evidence-backed runnable gate ledger that enforces approvals and re-verification for substantial agent tasks.
- Stars
- 3.1k
- Tracked growth
- +164.7%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 4d ago
- Language
- JavaScript
- License
- MIT
- Cost to run
- Free to run locally; external agent API costs may apply
Six axes, head to head
Each axis runs 0 to 5. The label under a score is what that project's own docs claim, not a category average.
| Axis | kestra | unlazy |
|---|---|---|
Context depth How much of your codebase it sees before it answers: the open diff, the diff plus related files, or the whole repository. | ●●●●● Flow-level only | ●●●●● Diff + related files |
Noise control How it keeps output volume down — severity thresholds, deduplication, incremental runs over new commits only. | ●●●●● Real-time validation | ●●●●● Approval & strict checks |
Customization How far it bends to your team: custom rules, prompts, style guides, per-path config. | ●●●●● Plugins & YAML | ●●●●● Config files & templates |
Privacy Whether your code stays on your own infrastructure: fully local, self-hostable, or cloud API only. | ●●●●● Self-hostable | ●●●●● Self-hostable |
Model freedom Whether you can point it at any provider, or it is wired to one. | ●●●●● No model support | ●●●●● Specific agents |
Setup ease What it takes to get a first useful run out of it. | ●●●●● One-command start | ●●●●● One-command install |
Which one to pick
Pick kestra if…
Easy setup — get a local instance with a single Docker command and build, visualize, and run workflows from the UI while keeping workflows declarative in YAML.
- Customization: Plugins & YAML (5/5 against 3/5)
Pick unlazy if…
Reproducible verification — use when you need strict, executable acceptance gates, recorded approvals, and re-verification for long-horizon agent work.
- Context depth: Diff + related files (3/5 against 1/5)
- Model freedom: Specific agents (3/5 against 1/5)
What people want from each one
kestra-io/kestra
Hacker News: Show HN: Kestra - Open-Source Airflow Alternative drew 142 points and 69 comments.
Questions people ask
Is kestra better than unlazy?
They split the axes: kestra leads on customization, unlazy on context depth and model freedom. kestra is worth picking when easy setup — get a local instance with a single Docker command and build, visualize, and run workflows from the UI while keeping workflows declarative in YAML.
Which of kestra and unlazy keeps my code private?
kestra: Self-hostable (5/5). unlazy: Self-hostable (4/5).
What does each one cost to run?
kestra: Free, self-hosted. unlazy: Free to run locally; external agent API costs may apply.
Full profiles: kestra-io/kestra and Leonxlnx/unlazy. Everything else in Workflow & graph engines.