What is Temporal used for?

Temporal is a durable execution platform whose server runs application workflows resiliently, retrying failed operations automatically. It is a good fit for orchestrating microservices reliably, long-running business processes with retries and scheduled jobs that must not be lost.

Is Temporal open source?

Yes. Temporal is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at temporalio/temporal and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. Temporal is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Temporal?

Yes. Temporal can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Temporal an alternative to?

Temporal is an open-source alternative to AWS Step Functions, Azure Logic Apps and Google Cloud Workflows. Other open-source alternatives to AWS Step Functions include Conductor OSS, Kestra and Inngest.

Is Temporal actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Temporal was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.32.0, published on 11 September 2026. The project has 23k stars on GitHub.

Temporal: open-source alternative to AWS Step Functions

About Temporal

Temporal is a durable execution platform that helps developers create scalable applications while keeping both productivity and reliability. The Temporal server runs units of application logic called Workflows, handling intermittent failures and retrying failed operations automatically. It started as a fork of Uber's Cadence and is developed by Temporal Technologies, a company founded by Cadence's creators. The server is written in Go and released under the MIT license.

This repository contains the source of the server only. To implement Workflows, Activities and Workers you use one of the supported language SDKs. The getting started guide shows how to download and run a pre-built image with its dependencies locally, try samples written for Go or Java, interact with the server through the Temporal CLI, and watch workflows in the Web UI at port 8233. Repository topics cover workflow engines, distributed cron, microservice orchestration and durable execution.

Key features

Durable execution of long-running workflows
Automatic retries for failed operations
SDKs for writing Workflows and Activities
Temporal CLI for interacting with the server
Web UI for viewing running workflows
Distributed cron-style scheduling

Good fit for

→Orchestrating microservices reliably
→Long-running business processes with retries
→Scheduled jobs that must not be lost

Built with: Go
Tags: workflow-engine; durable-execution; orchestration; microservices; golang; distributed-systems; cron; temporal

Temporal: questions and answers

What is Temporal used for?: Temporal is a durable execution platform whose server runs application workflows resiliently, retrying failed operations automatically. It is a good fit for orchestrating microservices reliably, long-running business processes with retries and scheduled jobs that must not be lost.
Is Temporal open source?: Yes. Temporal is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at temporalio/temporal and is written mainly in Go.
Is Temporal free?: Yes. Temporal is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Temporal?: Yes. Temporal can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Temporal an alternative to?: Temporal is an open-source alternative to AWS Step Functions, Azure Logic Apps and Google Cloud Workflows. Other open-source alternatives to AWS Step Functions include Conductor OSS, Kestra and Inngest.
Is Temporal actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Temporal was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.32.0, published on 11 September 2026. The project has 23k stars on GitHub.