head to head · open source
checkov vs rundeck
checkov has 9,015 GitHub stars, 1,415 forks, 170 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. rundeck has 6,304 stars, 987 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. checkov leads on adoption by 43% (9,015 vs 6,304 stars). checkov is written in Python under Apache-2.0; rundeck is written in Groovy under Apache-2.0. checkov has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, rundeck 16%. checkov was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (devops, hacktoberfest), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| checkov | rundeck | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.0K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Groovy |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 987 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick checkov if
- You weight community size — 9.0K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rundeck if
- You want the rundeck feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Groovy
- You evaluated both and rundeck fits your workflow better
About checkov
Checkov is an open source static code analysis and software composition analysis tool that scans infrastructure as code, container images and open source packages for security and compliance misconfigurations during the build, and it is aimed at developers, DevOps engineers and security teams who want those checks to run before anything is deployed to AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
read the full checkov overview →
About rundeck
Rundeck is an open source runbook automation service maintained by PagerDuty, distributed under the Apache License 2.0 and published from the rundeck.org homepage. It provides a web console, command line tools, and a WebAPI, and its stated purpose is to enable self service operations by giving specific users access to existing tools, services, and scripts. The repository is 16 years old and lives in the DevOps and operations tooling ecosystem, alongside topics such as ansible, automation, deployment, audit, ops, and devops tools.
read the full rundeck overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is checkov or rundeck more popular?
checkov has 9,015 GitHub stars and rundeck has 6,304. checkov has the larger community by that measure.
Are checkov and rundeck free?
Both are open source. checkov is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rundeck under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between checkov and rundeck?
checkov is written in Python and rundeck in Groovy. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, checkov or rundeck?
Choose checkov if you want the larger community (9,015 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rundeck if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.