head to head · open source
jenkins vs GitLab
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars, 9,819 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GitLab has 24,549 stars, 5,943 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. jenkins leads on adoption by 9% (26,719 vs 24,549 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%. jenkins 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 | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 5.9K |
| 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
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 GitLab
GitLab Canonical source The canonical source of GitLab where all development takes place is hosted on GitLab.com. If you wish to clone a copy of GitLab without proprietary code, you can use the read only mirror of GitLab located at However, please do not submit any issues and/or merge requests to that project. Free trial You can request a free trial of GitLab Ultimate on our website. Open source software to collaborate on code To see how GitLab looks please see the features page on our website. Manage Git repositories with fine grained access controls that keep your code secure Perform code reviews and enhance…
read the full GitLab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jenkins or GitLab more popular?
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars and GitLab has 24,549. 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 (26,719 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose GitLab if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.