head to head · open source
gitleaks vs Kestra
gitleaks has 29,364 GitHub stars, 2,236 forks, 481 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Kestra has 28,146 stars, 2,997 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gitleaks leads on adoption by 4% (29,364 vs 28,146 stars). gitleaks is written in Go under MIT; Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0. gitleaks has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Kestra 11%. Kestra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| gitleaks | Kestra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 28K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gitleaks if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Kestra if
- You want the Kestra feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Kestra fits your workflow better
About gitleaks
Gitleaks is an MIT licensed, Go based command line tool that detects hardcoded secrets such as passwords, API keys, and tokens in git repositories, files, and standard input, and it serves developers and security teams that need to keep credentials out of source control.
read the full gitleaks overview →
About Kestra
Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It operates in the Java based ecosystem and is licensed under Apache 2.0. The project provides a unified interface for both scheduled and real time automation, supporting declarative workflow definitions in YAML while also offering visual and AI assisted authoring.
read the full Kestra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gitleaks or Kestra more popular?
gitleaks has 29,364 GitHub stars and Kestra has 28,146. gitleaks has the larger community by that measure.
Are gitleaks and Kestra free?
Both are open source. gitleaks is licensed under MIT and Kestra under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gitleaks and Kestra?
gitleaks is written in Go and Kestra in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gitleaks or Kestra?
Choose gitleaks if you want the larger community (29,364 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Kestra if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.