head to head · open source
jenkins vs geodesic
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars, 9,819 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped yesterday. geodesic has 1,053 stars, 120 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. jenkins leads on adoption by 2,437% (26,719 vs 1,053 stars). jenkins is written in Java under MIT; geodesic is written in Shell under Apache-2.0. jenkins has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, geodesic 11%. 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 | geodesic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 120 |
| 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 geodesic if
- You want the geodesic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and geodesic fits your workflow better
About jenkins
Table of Contents About What to Use Jenkins for and When to Use It Downloads Getting Started (Development) Source Contributing to Jenkins News and Website Governance Adopters License About In a nutshell, Jenkins is the leading open source automation server. Built with Java, it provides over 2,000 plugins to support automating virtually anything, so that humans can spend their time doing things machines cannot. What to Use Jenkins for and When to Use It Use Jenkins to automate your development workflow, so you can focus on work that matters most. Jenkins is commonly used for: Building projects Running tests to…
read the full jenkins overview →
About geodesic
Geodesic is a robust Linux toolbox container, crafted to optimize DevOps workflows. This container comes loaded with essential dependencies for a DevOps toolchain. It's designed to bring consistency and boost efficiency across development environments. It achieves this without the need for installing additional software on your workstation. Think of Geodesic as a containerized parallel to Vagrant, offering similar functionality within a Docker container context. Although Geodesic is packed with essentials, it is designed to be extended and customized to suit your specific needs. Create your own Dockerfile based…
read the full geodesic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jenkins or geodesic more popular?
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars and geodesic has 1,053. jenkins has the larger community by that measure.
Are jenkins and geodesic free?
Both are open source. jenkins is licensed under MIT and geodesic under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jenkins and geodesic?
jenkins is written in Java and geodesic in Shell. 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 geodesic?
Choose jenkins if you want the larger community (26,719 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose geodesic if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.