Automatisch vs Conductor (Netflix)
| Tagline | Open-source business automation, a self-hostable Zapier alternative | Microservice workflow orchestration engine open-sourced by Netflix |
| Category | Automation & iPaaS | Automation & iPaaS |
| Replaces | Zapier, Make | Zapier, Workato |
| GitHub stars | 14k | 32k |
| Language | JavaScript | Java |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 4/5 Involved |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 5 months ago | 5 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Automatisch
- Significantly fewer integrations than Zapier or even n8n.
- Slower release cadence; development activity is lighter than the larger competitors.
- No native code/function step comparable to n8n or Windmill for custom logic.
- Self-hosting needs Postgres and Redis; not a single-container deploy.
Conductor (Netflix)
- Workflow logic defined in JSON/YAML; no drag-and-drop canvas for non-technical users
- Requires Elasticsearch and a relational DB for production — non-trivial infrastructure
- Community edition lacks built-in RBAC available in the commercial Orkes Cloud offering
Bottom line
Choose Automatisch if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Conductor (Netflix) for the larger community and ecosystem. Conductor (Netflix) has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Conductor (Netflix)
Microservice workflow orchestration engine open-sourced by Netflix