head to head · open source
compose vs kapitan
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kapitan has 1,933 stars, 215 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. compose leads on adoption by 1,895% (38,573 vs 1,933 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; kapitan is written in Python under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, kapitan 11%. compose was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (docker), 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 | kapitan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 215 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick compose if
- You weight community size — 39K 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 kapitan if
- You want the kapitan 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 kapitan fits your workflow better
About compose
Table of Contents Docker Compose Where to get Docker Compose + Windows and macOS + Linux Quick Start Contributing Legacy Docker Compose Docker Compose is a tool for running multi container applications on Docker defined using the Compose file format. A Compose file is used to define how one or more containers that make up your application are configured. Once you have a Compose file, you can create and start your application with a single command: docker compose up . Note : About Docker Swarm Docker Swarm used to rely on the legacy compose file format but did not adopt the compose specification so is missing…
read the full compose overview →
About kapitan
Kapitan: Configuration Management for Kubernetes, Terraform, and Infrastructure Kapitan is an open source configuration management tool for Kubernetes , Terraform , and complex infrastructure systems. It helps teams generate, organize, reuse, and validate configuration across environments using an inventory driven model , templates ( Jsonnet , Jinja2 , Kadet ), and integrations with Helm , Kustomize , CUE , and external references. Kapitan provides native secrets management (GPG, AWS KMS, GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault) and is designed for Platform Engineering and GitOps workflows. Website…
read the full kapitan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or kapitan more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and kapitan has 1,933. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and kapitan free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kapitan under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and kapitan?
compose is written in Go and kapitan 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, compose or kapitan?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kapitan if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.