head to head · open source
ansible vs uncloud
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars, 24,474 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. uncloud has 5,590 stars, 184 forks, 89 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. ansible leads on adoption by 1,174% (71,204 vs 5,590 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; uncloud is written in Go under Apache-2.0. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, uncloud 3%. 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 | uncloud | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 5.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 184 |
| 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 uncloud if
- You want the uncloud feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and uncloud 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 uncloud
▸ Deploy and scale containerised apps across servers without Swarm or Kubernetes overhead ◂ Uncloud is a lightweight clustering and container orchestration tool that lets you deploy and manage web apps across cloud VMs and bare metal with minimised cluster management overhead. It creates a secure WireGuard mesh network between your Docker hosts and provides automatic service discovery, load balancing, ingress with HTTPS, and simple CLI commands to manage your apps. Unlike traditional orchestrators, there's no central control plane and quorum to maintain. Each machine maintains a synchronised copy of the cluster…
read the full uncloud overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or uncloud more popular?
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars and uncloud has 5,590. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and uncloud free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and uncloud under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and uncloud?
ansible is written in Python and uncloud 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 uncloud?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (71,204 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose uncloud if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.