head to head · open source
Zen vs AutomatedLab
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars, 145 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. AutomatedLab has 2,235 stars, 382 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Zen leads on adoption by 94% (4,347 vs 2,235 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; AutomatedLab is written in PowerShell under MIT. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, AutomatedLab 17%. Zen 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
| Zen | AutomatedLab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.3K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | PowerShell |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-07-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 145 | ⑂ 382 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen if
- You weight community size — 4.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick AutomatedLab if
- You want the AutomatedLab feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PowerShell
- You evaluated both and AutomatedLab fits your workflow better
About Zen
Zen: Your Comprehensive Ad Blocker and Privacy Guard There is, simply, no way, to ignore privacy. Because a citizenry’s freedoms are interdependent, to surrender your own privacy is really to surrender everyone’s. Edward Snowden, Permanent Record Website • Mastodon • Bluesky • Discord • Documentation Zen is an open source system wide ad blocker and privacy guard for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It works by setting up a proxy that intercepts HTTP requests from all applications, and blocks those serving ads, tracking scripts that monitor your behavior, malware, and other unwanted content. By operating at the system…
About AutomatedLab
AutomatedLab Build Status Last Commit Latest Release Develop Master Project Summary AutomatedLab (AL) enables you to setup test and lab environments on Hyper v or Azure with multiple products or just a single VM in a very short time. There are only two requirements you need to make sure: You need the DVD ISO images and a Hyper V host or an Azure subscription. Sponsors Huge thanks to our regular sponsor @chocolatey! In case you have lived under a rock (or worked mainly on non Windows systems) for the past decade, Chocolatey is a brilliant package management system with a public binary package gallery as well as…
read the full AutomatedLab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or AutomatedLab more popular?
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars and AutomatedLab has 2,235. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and AutomatedLab free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and AutomatedLab under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and AutomatedLab?
Zen is written in Go and AutomatedLab in PowerShell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zen or AutomatedLab?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,347 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose AutomatedLab if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.