head to head · open source
compose vs bolt
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars, 5,818 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. bolt has 558 stars, 224 forks, 101 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 6,742% (38,178 vs 558 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; bolt is written in Ruby under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, bolt 40%. compose was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (orchestration), 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
| compose | bolt | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 558 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 224 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick compose if
- You weight community size — 38K 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 bolt if
- You want the bolt feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and bolt fits your workflow better
About compose
Docker Compose is an Apache 2.0 licensed Go tool that defines and runs multi container applications on Docker from a single Compose file, aimed at developers and operators who need several containers to start together as one isolated application.
read the full compose overview →
About bolt
Bolt is an open source, agentless orchestration tool that automates the manual work of maintaining infrastructure on demand or as part of a larger orchestration workflow, and it is built for infrastructure and operations engineers who manage Linux, Windows, and macOS targets.
More in Infrastructure & Operations
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or bolt more popular?
compose has 38,178 GitHub stars and bolt has 558. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and bolt free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and bolt under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and bolt?
compose is written in Go and bolt in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, compose or bolt?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,178 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose bolt if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.