head to head · open source
jenkins vs headlamp
jenkins has 26,570 GitHub stars, 9,832 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped yesterday. headlamp has 7,310 stars, 1,112 forks, 1,422 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. jenkins leads on adoption by 263% (26,570 vs 7,310 stars). jenkins is written in Java under MIT; headlamp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. jenkins has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, headlamp 15%. jenkins was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (devops), 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
| jenkins | headlamp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick jenkins if
- You weight community size — 27K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick headlamp if
- You want the headlamp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and headlamp fits your workflow better
About jenkins
Jenkins is an open source automation server built with Java and released under the MIT license. It lives in the continuous integration and continuous delivery ecosystem, where it has served as a central automation hub for roughly sixteen years. The project is developed in the open on GitHub, where it has accumulated 26,546 stars and 9,833 forks, and it is distributed through the official jenkins.io website alongside documentation, plugin listings, and release notes. Two release lines are maintained: a weekly line that carries all new features, improvements, and bug fixes, and a Long Term Support line that receive…
read the full jenkins overview →
About headlamp
Headlamp is an Apache 2.0 licensed, vendor independent Kubernetes web UI written in TypeScript that runs either inside a cluster or locally as a desktop application, and it is built for platform engineers, cluster operators, and developers who need to inspect and change Kubernetes resources through a graphical interface.
read the full headlamp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jenkins or headlamp more popular?
jenkins has 26,570 GitHub stars and headlamp has 7,310. jenkins has the larger community by that measure.
Are jenkins and headlamp free?
Both are open source. jenkins is licensed under MIT and headlamp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jenkins and headlamp?
jenkins is written in Java and headlamp in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, jenkins or headlamp?
Choose jenkins if you want the larger community (26,570 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose headlamp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.