Conductor
Conductor: A broad, code-friendly orchestrator for durable workflows across multiple languages. Ranked #12 of 36 in Workflow Orchestration Software by our editors (8.4/10); pricing: Free plan; best for polyglot durable workflow orchestration.
At a glance
- Editor score8.4 / 10
- PricingFree plan
- Best forPolyglot durable workflow orchestration
- Free planYes
- Paid fromFree
- Human approvalsYes
- Facts checked20 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Durable execution persists task progress for recovery after failures or restarts.
- SDKs support Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, and Rust.
- Retries, event routing, approvals, diagrams, logs, and recovery actions are built in.
Where it doesn't
- Self-hosted deployment leaves infrastructure operation with the adopting team.
- The OSS distribution does not include the visual editor described for hosted editions.
- Its broad workflow model may be more than teams need for simple automations.
Our verdict on Conductor
Conductor is an open-source workflow orchestration platform for teams coordinating microservices, AI agents, and durable workflow graphs. It defines versioned task graphs, runs them across services and workers, and persists task progress so executions can recover after failures or restarts. Built-in HTTP, event, wait, human, branching, and sub-workflow tasks cover common orchestration patterns, while polyglot SDKs let teams write workers in Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, or Rust. It fits engineering organizations that need durable, inspectable processes rather than lightweight point-to-point automation.
Its main strength is depth across execution and operations. Conductor supports event-handler triggers, broker event routing, configurable retries, backoff strategies, timeouts, replay, and recovery actions. Execution diagrams, timelines, task details, and logs give teams several ways to inspect workflow behavior. Human-in-the-loop approval tasks also extend the model beyond service coordination. Integrations include Kafka, NATS, NATS Streaming, AMQP/RabbitMQ, Amazon SQS, HTTP, Redis, PostgreSQL, and OpenSearch, giving it a practical fit for event-driven systems with varied infrastructure.
The trade-off is operational ownership. The OSS model is self-hosted, with Docker- and JVM-based deployment, so teams must run and maintain the orchestration environment themselves. The OSS distribution also differs from Orkes-hosted editions: the visual workflow editor is described for the hosted products, not as part of the OSS distribution. Choose Conductor when durable execution, recovery, event routing, approvals, and language flexibility matter. Teams seeking a simpler automation tool or a primarily visual building experience should look elsewhere.
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Conductor pricing
Conductor fact sheet
| Free plan | Yes |
|---|---|
| Paid from | Free |
| Visual workflow builder | Not verified |
| Event triggers | Yes |
| Automatic retries | Yes |
| Execution observability | Yes |
| Deployment model | Self-hosted |
| Human approvals | Yes |
| Deployment | Self-hosted, Cloud |
| Platforms | Web |
| Support | Community, Docs |
| Built for | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 9 integrations: Kafka, NATS, NATS Streaming, AMQP/RabbitMQ, Amazon SQS, HTTP … |
| Pricing | Free plan |
| Website | conductor-oss.org |
| Facts checked | 20 Sep 2026 |
Conductor integrations
Conductor lists 9 integrations on its own site.
- Kafka
- NATS
- NATS Streaming
- AMQP/RabbitMQ
- Amazon SQS
- HTTP
- Redis
- PostgreSQL
- OpenSearch
Alternatives to Conductor
- AWS Step FunctionsA strong AWS-native choice for state-machine orchestration and event-driven automation.9.3
- Apache AirflowA mature self-hosted choice for teams building Python-based data workflows.9.2
- BMC Control-MA broad, governed orchestration suite for complex enterprise workloads, priced for large organizations.9.1
See all Conductor alternatives →
Also Ranked In
Conductor is ranked in 4 of our directories.
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Featured on iTechGuides
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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