head to head · open source
ansible vs sre
ansible has 70,719 GitHub stars, 24,336 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sre has 1,293 stars, 203 forks, 35 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. ansible leads on adoption by 5,369% (70,719 vs 1,293 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; sre is written in TypeScript under MIT. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, sre 16%. 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 | sre | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-04-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 203 |
| 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 sre if
- You want the sre feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and sre 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 sre
The SmythOS Runtime Environment (SRE) is an open source, cloud native runtime, SDK, and command line interface that developers use to build, run, and manage agentic AI across local, cloud, and edge environments.
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or sre more popular?
ansible has 70,719 GitHub stars and sre has 1,293. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and sre free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and sre under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and sre?
ansible is written in Python and sre in TypeScript. 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 sre?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (70,719 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose sre if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.