head to head · open source
jenkins vs GitLab
jenkins has 26,559 GitHub stars, 9,834 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped today. GitLab has 24,545 stars, 5,984 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped today. jenkins leads on adoption by 8% (26,559 vs 24,545 stars). jenkins is written in Java under MIT; GitLab is written in Ruby under a custom or non-standard licence. jenkins has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, GitLab 24%. GitLab 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
| jenkins | GitLab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 25K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Java | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 6.0K |
| 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 GitLab if
- You want the GitLab feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and GitLab 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 GitLab
GitLab is an open core DevSecOps platform that gives teams Git repository hosting, merge request code review, CI/CD pipelines, issue tracking, and wikis in one self hostable application, aimed at organizations that want to run their development lifecycle on infrastructure they control.
read the full GitLab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jenkins or GitLab more popular?
jenkins has 26,559 GitHub stars and GitLab has 24,545. jenkins has the larger community by that measure.
Are jenkins and GitLab free?
Both are open source. jenkins is licensed under MIT, and GitLab has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between jenkins and GitLab?
jenkins is written in Java and GitLab in Ruby. 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 GitLab?
Choose jenkins if you want the larger community (26,559 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose GitLab if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.