head to head · open source
ansible vs puppetry
ansible has 70,721 GitHub stars, 24,333 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. puppetry has 888 stars, 127 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. ansible leads on adoption by 7,864% (70,721 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 | 2026-09-18 | 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
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 puppetry
Puppetry is a no code/low code end to end web testing tool built on top of Puppeteer and Jest, aimed at QA engineers, testers, and developers who want to record and manage browser tests through a UI instead of writing scripts — though the project is now officially deprecated and kept only as an example and a piece of its own history.
read the full puppetry overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or puppetry more popular?
ansible has 70,721 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 (70,721 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose puppetry if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.