Apache Airflow
Platform to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows.
High commit volume, frequent releases and growing activity.
Commit activity more than 98% of tracked projects; popularity more than 96%. How this is calculated.
Commits, last 11 months
| Stars | 47k |
|---|---|
| Latest release | 3.3.2 · 17 Sept 2026 |
| Repo updated | 27 Sept 2026 |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
| Built with | Python, Docker |
Is Apache Airflow actively maintained?
Development is ongoing. The repository recorded 7515 commits over the same window, and the last three months alone account for 2131 of them.
The most recent tagged release, 3.3.2, shipped within the last month — a current, installable version exists today.
Of the 32 projects we track in Automation, Apache Airflow ranks #2 by health score — in the top quarter of its category.
What Apache Airflow actually does
Apache Airflow is an automation platform designed to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor complex workflows. It allows you to define execution pipelines as code, typically using Python, to coordinate tasks across infrastructure. The system tracks job states and dependencies, providing visibility into process completion.
Best fit: Data engineering teams and developers who need to orchestrate multi-step automated processes with strict dependency ordering and scheduling requirements.
Worth knowing: Operating this platform introduces a significant administrative burden, as it requires managing multiple moving parts like a metadata database, scheduler, and worker nodes.
Deployment notes
Because the runtime relies on Python and Docker, deployments typically require a separate persistent database for state management and an external volume for log storage.
Links
Apache Airflow as a replacement for
Alternatives to Apache Airflow
Projects in the same categories, ordered by health score.
Free node based Workflow Automation Tool. Easily automate tasks across different services.
Event-driven, language-agnostic platform to create, schedule, and monitor workflows. In code. Coordinate data pipelines and tasks such as ETL and ELT.
No-code business automation tool like Zapier or Tray. For example, you can send a Slack notification for each new Trello card.
Web interface for running Linux shell commands.
Listen for pings and sends alerts when pings are late.
Powerful Cron alternative with a Web UI. It allows you to define dependencies between commands as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) in a declarative YAML format.