head to head · open source
Zen vs AutomatedLab
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars, 143 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. AutomatedLab has 2,226 stars, 383 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Zen leads on adoption by 90% (4,225 vs 2,226 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 | ★ 4.2K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | PowerShell |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 143 | ⑂ 383 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen if
- You weight community size — 4.2K 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 is an open source desktop application written in Go for Windows, macOS, and Linux under the MIT license. It operates as a system wide ad blocker and privacy guard, so it applies to traffic from applications on the machine rather than only to browser tabs. It lives in the desktop security and privacy ecosystem, where users want filtering without browser extensions.
About AutomatedLab
AutomatedLab is an MIT licensed PowerShell provisioning framework that deploys complex lab environments — Windows domain controllers, Exchange, PKI, IIS and Linux guests — on Hyper V or Azure from simple scripts, built for IT admins, testers and trainers who need full multi VM labs on demand.
read the full AutomatedLab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or AutomatedLab more popular?
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars and AutomatedLab has 2,226. 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 (4,225 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose AutomatedLab if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.