head to head · open source
jenkins vs homelab
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars, 9,819 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped yesterday. homelab has 9,709 stars, 890 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jenkins leads on adoption by 175% (26,719 vs 9,709 stars). jenkins is written in Java under MIT; homelab is written in Python under GPL-3.0. jenkins has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, homelab 9%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| jenkins | homelab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 9.7K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 890 |
| 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 homelab if
- You want the homelab feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and homelab 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 homelab
Khue's Homelab Features • Get Started • Documentation This project utilizes Infrastructure as Code and GitOps to automate provisioning, operating, and updating self hosted services in my homelab. It can be used as a highly customizable framework to build your own homelab. What is a homelab? Homelab is a laboratory at home where you can self host, experiment with new technologies, practice for certifications, and so on. For more information, please see the r/homelab introduction and the Home Operations Discord community (formerly known as k8s at home). If you encounter an issue, please create a bug report (avoid…
read the full homelab overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Cloud Infrastructure Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Cloud Infrastructure Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is jenkins or homelab more popular?
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars and homelab has 9,709. jenkins has the larger community by that measure.
Are jenkins and homelab free?
Both are open source. jenkins is licensed under MIT and homelab under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jenkins and homelab?
jenkins is written in Java and homelab in Python. 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 homelab?
Choose jenkins if you want the larger community (26,719 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose homelab if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.