head to head · open source
ansible vs puppetry
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars, 24,474 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. puppetry has 888 stars, 127 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. ansible leads on adoption by 7,918% (71,204 vs 888 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; puppetry is written in JavaScript under MIT. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, puppetry 14%. 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 | puppetry | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 888 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 127 |
| 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 puppetry if
- You want the puppetry feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and puppetry 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 puppetry
Puppetry ⚠️ Project Deprecated After observing the market for many years since the last update, I’ve decided to officially deprecate Puppetry . Over time, it became clear that Playwright has evolved to cover almost everything I originally aimed to achieve with this project — and they do it much better. The idea of codeless end to end testing , while exciting at the time, has proven to be a technological dead end. Today, with the rise of AI assisted development , it’s possible to create robust end to end tests simply by narrating what you want to achieve — something that goes far beyond the original Puppetry…
read the full puppetry overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or puppetry more popular?
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars and puppetry has 888. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and puppetry free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and puppetry under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and puppetry?
ansible is written in Python and puppetry in JavaScript. 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 puppetry?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (71,204 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose puppetry if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.