head to head · open source
argo-cd vs OpenStack
argo-cd has 24,178 GitHub stars, 7,852 forks, 4,362 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenStack has 6,034 stars, 1,625 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. argo-cd leads on adoption by 301% (24,178 vs 6,034 stars). argo-cd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; OpenStack is written in Python under Apache-2.0. argo-cd has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, OpenStack 27%. OpenStack 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
| argo-cd | OpenStack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.9K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick argo-cd if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenStack if
- You want the OpenStack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and OpenStack fits your workflow better
About argo-cd
Argo CD is a declarative GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. It lives in the cloud native ecosystem and is written in Go under the Apache 2.0 license. The project describes itself as a tool for declarative continuous delivery and continuous deployment, and its application definitions, configurations, and environments are expected to be declarative and version controlled. It sits in the Infrastructure and Operations category, specifically cloud infrastructure management, and it has been developed in the open for roughly nine years, with a large community footprint measured in tens of thousands of stars…
read the full argo-cd overview →
About OpenStack
OpenStack is a collection of interoperable components that can be deployed together to provide computing, networking and storage resources. Those infrastructure resources are then exposed to end users through programmable APIs, so that capacity can be requested and managed by software rather than by hand. The project lives in the Python ecosystem and is released under the Apache 2.0 license, with development coordinated at opendev.org and documentation hosted at openstack.org.
read the full OpenStack overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is argo-cd or OpenStack more popular?
argo-cd has 24,178 GitHub stars and OpenStack has 6,034. argo-cd has the larger community by that measure.
Are argo-cd and OpenStack free?
Both are open source. argo-cd is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenStack under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between argo-cd and OpenStack?
argo-cd is written in Go and OpenStack in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, argo-cd or OpenStack?
Choose argo-cd if you want the larger community (24,178 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenStack if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.