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Automation Integration · head to head

Nango vs Orkes

Nango logo

Nango

Automation Integration

Open source unified API and OAuth infrastructure for product integrations, licensed under Elastic License 2.0

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Orkes logo

Orkes

Automation Integration

Commercial Conductor, now the maintainer of the workflow engine Netflix archived

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Nango the licence is Elastic License 2.0, which is source available rather than OSI open source, and it forbids offering Nango to third parties as a managed service, so anyone planning to resell or embed it in a platform for their own customers has a genuine legal problem.; Orkes netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • They diverge on capability: Nango covers Managed OAuth, Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Nango and Orkes actually diverge.

Attributes where Nango and Orkes differ
AttributeNangoOrkes
Pricing modelPer connection per monthquote
PlatformsWeb, Linux, DockerLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Automation Integration).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Nango

  • Managed OAuth
  • Pre-built integrations
  • Custom syncs and actions
  • Incremental sync
  • Rate limit and retry handling
  • Webhooks
  • Self-hosting
  • Unified models

Only in Orkes

  • JSON workflow definitions
  • Polyglot workers
  • Visual workflow builder
  • AI and LLM tasks
  • Human tasks
  • Event handlers
  • RBAC and secrets
  • Hosted or self-hosted

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Nango

  • A SaaS product that needs to ship twenty customer-facing integrations without hiring a team to maintain OAuth and token refresh for eachnot Orkes
  • A team that needs a niche or internal API integrated, which closed unified API vendors will not build for themnot Orkes
  • A company with data residency or security constraints that must self-host the integration layer rather than send customer tokens to a vendornot Orkes
  • An engineering team replacing a homegrown integration service whose main cost is silent token expiry and rate limit failures in productionnot Orkes

Orkes

  • A microservices estate that needs orchestration across services written in different languages without a shared SDKnot Nango
  • A team already running Conductor OSS that wants a supported distribution now that Netflix has stopped maintaining itnot Nango
  • An AI platform composing agent steps, model calls and vector lookups as versioned workflow definitionsnot Nango
  • A business process needing human approval steps interleaved with automated service callsnot Nango

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Nango

  • The licence is Elastic License 2.0, which is source available rather than OSI open source, and it forbids offering Nango to third parties as a managed service, so anyone planning to resell or embed it in a platform for their own customers has a genuine legal problem.
  • Pricing is per connection where a connection is one authorised end-user account, so cost scales linearly with your customer base and a product where each user links several services multiplies quickly beyond what a headline plan price suggests.
  • Pre-built integrations vary in depth, and a connection that exists is not the same as a connection that covers the endpoints and objects your feature needs, so each one must be verified before it is designed into a roadmap.
  • Custom syncs are written in TypeScript and run in Nango model, which means integration logic lives in a vendor runtime and migrating away later requires rewriting it rather than lifting it out.
  • Self-hosting removes the vendor from the data path but transfers operational responsibility for a component that holds customer OAuth tokens, and few teams appreciate the security burden that comes with running that themselves.

Orkes

  • Netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • Enterprise pricing is entirely unpublished, and the only free option is explicitly a prototyping sandbox whose limits can change at any time, so there is no supported low-cost entry point.
  • Self-hosting Conductor OSS in production means operating the engine plus its persistence and indexing dependencies, typically Postgres or Cassandra with Elasticsearch, which is a substantial platform commitment.
  • JSON workflow definitions are language agnostic but verbose and awkward to test, and teams accustomed to defining workflows in code find them a step backwards in developer experience.
  • Orkes is a small company whose commercial future is tied to a single open source project it also maintains, which concentrates both vendor and project risk in the same place.

Pricing, plan by plan

Nango

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 10 connections
    • Pre-built integrations
    • Managed OAuth
  • Starter$50/month
    • 20 connections included
    • 1 USD per additional connection
    • Custom syncs and actions
  • Growth$500/month
    • 100 connections included
    • 1 USD per additional connection
    • Higher limits
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Quoted
    • Custom connection volumes
    • Security review and SLA

Orkes

Free
  • Developer EditionFree
    • All Conductor OSS features plus enterprise capabilities
    • Sandbox for prototyping only
    • Rate limits and resources may change without notice
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Availability SLA up to 99.99%
    • Orkes-hosted or customer-hosted deployment
    • Dedicated technical account manager

Which should you pick?

Choose Nango if

  • You need managed oauth.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Docker.
  • You also want pre-built integrations.
Nango review

Choose Orkes if

  • You need json workflow definitions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want polyglot workers.
Orkes review

Questions people ask

Is Nango or Orkes better?
Neither clearly leads. Nango starts at Free and Orkes at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Nango or Orkes?
Nango starts at Free and Orkes at Free.
Does Nango or Orkes run on more platforms?
Nango runs on Web, Linux, Docker. Orkes runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use Nango for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Nango best used for?
Nango is most often used for a saas product that needs to ship twenty customer-facing integrations without hiring a team to maintain oauth and token refresh for each, a team that needs a niche or internal api integrated, which closed unified api vendors will not build for them, a company with data residency or security constraints that must self-host the integration layer rather than send customer tokens to a vendor, an engineering team replacing a homegrown integration service whose main cost is silent token expiry and rate limit failures in production. Of those, a saas product that needs to ship twenty customer-facing integrations without hiring a team to maintain oauth and token refresh for each and a team that needs a niche or internal api integrated, which closed unified api vendors will not build for them are not what Orkes is typically brought in for.
What can Nango do that Orkes cannot?
Nango covers Managed OAuth, Pre-built integrations, Custom syncs and actions, Incremental sync. Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions, Polyglot workers, Visual workflow builder, AI and LLM tasks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Nango: Is Nango open source?

It is source available under Elastic License 2.0. You can read, modify and self-host it, but you cannot offer it to third parties as a managed service. That is not the same as an OSI approved open source licence.

Orkes: Does Netflix still maintain Conductor?

No. Netflix archived its repository in December 2023. The open source project continues at conductor-oss under Apache 2.0, maintained by Orkes.

Nango: How is it priced?

Per connection per month, where a connection is one authorised end-user account. Free to 10 connections, 50 dollars a month for Starter with 20, 500 for Growth with 100, and one dollar per additional connection.

Orkes: Is there a free production tier?

No. The Developer Edition is a sandbox that the vendor states is unsuitable for production. Self-hosting Conductor OSS is the free production route.

Nango: Can we integrate an API Nango does not support?

Yes. Custom syncs and actions in TypeScript cover any API including internal ones, which is the main advantage over closed unified API products.

Orkes: What does Enterprise cost?

Nothing is published; it is quoted by deployment and support requirements.

Nango: Can we self-host it?

Yes, under the Elastic License 2.0 terms, which permit self-hosting for your own use but not resale as a service.

Orkes: How does it compare with Temporal?

Conductor uses declarative JSON workflow definitions and external workers; Temporal defines workflows in code. Temporal has the larger community.

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