head to head · open source
ansible vs kapitan
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars, 24,474 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kapitan has 1,933 stars, 215 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. ansible leads on adoption by 3,584% (71,204 vs 1,933 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; kapitan is written in Python under Apache-2.0. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, kapitan 11%. 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 | kapitan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 215 |
| 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 kapitan if
- You want the kapitan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and kapitan 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 kapitan
Kapitan: Configuration Management for Kubernetes, Terraform, and Infrastructure Kapitan is an open source configuration management tool for Kubernetes , Terraform , and complex infrastructure systems. It helps teams generate, organize, reuse, and validate configuration across environments using an inventory driven model , templates ( Jsonnet , Jinja2 , Kadet ), and integrations with Helm , Kustomize , CUE , and external references. Kapitan provides native secrets management (GPG, AWS KMS, GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault) and is designed for Platform Engineering and GitOps workflows. Website…
read the full kapitan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or kapitan more popular?
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars and kapitan has 1,933. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and kapitan free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and kapitan under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and kapitan?
ansible is written in Python and kapitan in Python. 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 kapitan?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (71,204 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose kapitan if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.