head to head · open source
ansible vs agent-orchestrator
ansible has 70,721 GitHub stars, 24,333 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. agent-orchestrator has 12,172 stars, 1,677 forks, 711 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ansible leads on adoption by 481% (70,721 vs 12,172 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; agent-orchestrator is written in Go under Apache-2.0. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, agent-orchestrator 14%. agent-orchestrator was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| ansible | agent-orchestrator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 12K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ansible if
- You weight community size — 71K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agent-orchestrator if
- You want the agent-orchestrator feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and agent-orchestrator fits your workflow better
About ansible
Ansible is a radically simple, agentless IT automation platform, written in Python and licensed under GPL 3.0, that handles configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad hoc task execution, network automation, and multi node orchestration for operators, developers, and network and cloud teams who manage machines over plain SSH.
read the full ansible overview →
About agent-orchestrator
Agent Orchestrator is an open source desktop workspace for running and supervising teams of coding agents, written in Go and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the agent orchestration ecosystem, alongside the coding harnesses it drives, and it is distributed as a local application rather than as a hosted service. The project describes itself as a place to plan, run, and supervise coding agents from one place, giving every coding task its own agent, workspace, and feedback loop.
read the full agent-orchestrator overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or agent-orchestrator more popular?
ansible has 70,721 GitHub stars and agent-orchestrator has 12,172. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and agent-orchestrator free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and agent-orchestrator under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and agent-orchestrator?
ansible is written in Python and agent-orchestrator in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ansible or agent-orchestrator?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (70,721 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose agent-orchestrator if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.