NATSvsOrca
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| NATS | Orca | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 | 91/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 12 in Message Broker | #1 of 209 in AI Agents |
| GitHub stars | 20 954 | 108 958 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +192 | +9 051 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 18 | 15 |
| Latest release | v2.14.9 · 26 Oct 2026 | v1.4.243 · 28 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Go | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Orca scores 91/100 against 80/100 for NATS, so it is the safer default.
NATS ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 15 for Orca.
If you want the quickest setup, Orca is easier to run; NATS needs more configuration.
Orca is growing faster right now (+9 051 stars in 30 days).
Swap a project
Keep NATS, compare it with
Keep Orca, compare it with