head to head · open source
ansible vs swarm-cronjob
ansible has 70,721 GitHub stars, 24,333 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. swarm-cronjob has 884 stars, 75 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ansible leads on adoption by 7,900% (70,721 vs 884 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; swarm-cronjob is written in Go under MIT. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, swarm-cronjob 8%. 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 | swarm-cronjob | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 884 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 75 |
| 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 swarm-cronjob if
- You want the swarm-cronjob feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and swarm-cronjob 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 swarm-cronjob
swarm cronjob is a Go based, MIT licensed scheduler for Docker Swarm that lets operators create recurring jobs by defining cron style schedules with service labels, and it is intended for teams that already run Docker Swarm clusters and want scheduled tasks without operating a separate scheduler.
read the full swarm-cronjob overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or swarm-cronjob more popular?
ansible has 70,721 GitHub stars and swarm-cronjob has 884. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and swarm-cronjob free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and swarm-cronjob under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and swarm-cronjob?
ansible is written in Python and swarm-cronjob in Go. 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 swarm-cronjob?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (70,721 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose swarm-cronjob if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.