head to head · open source
compose vs pipecd
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars, 5,899 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pipecd has 1,370 stars, 384 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compose leads on adoption by 2,716% (38,573 vs 1,370 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pipecd is written in Go under Apache-2.0. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, pipecd 28%. pipecd 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
| compose | pipecd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 384 |
| 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 pipecd if
- You want the pipecd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pipecd 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 pipecd
A GitOps style continuous delivery platform that provides consistent deployment and operations experience for any applications Explore PipeCD docs » Try on Playground » Overview PipeCD provides a unified continuous delivery solution for multiple application kinds on multi cloud that empowers engineers to deploy faster with more confidence, a GitOps tool that enables doing deployment operations by pull request on Git. Why PipeCD? Simple, unified and easy to use but powerful pipeline definition to construct your deployment Same deployment interface to deploy applications of any platform, including Kubernetes…
read the full pipecd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is compose or pipecd more popular?
compose has 38,573 GitHub stars and pipecd has 1,370. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and pipecd free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pipecd under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and pipecd?
compose is written in Go and pipecd in Go. 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 pipecd?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,573 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pipecd if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.