head to head · open source
ansible vs hof
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars, 24,474 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hof has 615 stars, 48 forks, 74 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. ansible leads on adoption by 11,478% (71,204 vs 615 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; hof is written in Go under Apache-2.0. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, hof 8%. ansible 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 | hof | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 615 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 48 |
| 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 hof if
- You want the hof 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 hof fits your workflow better
About ansible
[ ][copying] Ansible Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system. It handles configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad hoc task execution, network automation, and multi node orchestration. Ansible makes complex changes like zero downtime rolling updates with load balancers easy. More information on the Ansible website. Design Principles Have an extremely simple setup process with a minimal learning curve. Manage machines quickly and in parallel. Avoid custom agents and additional open ports, be agentless by leveraging the existing SSH daemon. Describe infrastructure in a…
read the full ansible overview →
About hof
hof the higher order framework A tool that unifies data models, schemas, code generation, and a task engine. hof is a CLI tool you add to your workflow. Foundation in CUE Deterministic and Agentic code generation Data models that can evolve and be input to code generation Task engine based on cue/flow Agent servers and VS Code extension hof uses CUE to power the DX and implementation. We believe CUE is a great language for specifying schemas, configuration, and generally for writing anything declarative or this is a source of truth. It has good theory and comes from the same people that brought us containers…
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or hof more popular?
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars and hof has 615. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and hof free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and hof under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and hof?
ansible is written in Python and hof 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 hof?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (71,204 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose hof if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.