head to head · open source
ansible vs jenkins
ansible has 71,235 GitHub stars, 24,444 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jenkins has 26,724 stars, 9,820 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ansible leads on adoption by 167% (71,235 vs 26,724 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; jenkins is written in Java under MIT. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, jenkins 37%. 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 | jenkins | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 27K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 9.8K |
| 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 jenkins if
- You want the jenkins feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and jenkins 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 jenkins
Table of Contents About What to Use Jenkins for and When to Use It Downloads Getting Started (Development) Source Contributing to Jenkins News and Website Governance Adopters License About In a nutshell, Jenkins is the leading open source automation server. Built with Java, it provides over 2,000 plugins to support automating virtually anything, so that humans can spend their time doing things machines cannot. What to Use Jenkins for and When to Use It Use Jenkins to automate your development workflow, so you can focus on work that matters most. Jenkins is commonly used for: Building projects Running tests to…
read the full jenkins overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or jenkins more popular?
ansible has 71,235 GitHub stars and jenkins has 26,724. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and jenkins free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and jenkins under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and jenkins?
ansible is written in Python and jenkins in Java. 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 jenkins?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (71,235 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose jenkins if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.