head to head · open source
jenkins vs kcl
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars, 9,819 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kcl has 2,440 stars, 177 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jenkins leads on adoption by 995% (26,719 vs 2,440 stars). jenkins is written in Java under MIT; kcl is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. jenkins has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, kcl 7%. 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 | kcl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 177 |
| 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 kcl if
- You want the kcl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and kcl 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 kcl
KCL: Constraint based Record & Functional Language English 简体中文 Introduction Features What is it for Installation Documentation Contributing Introduction KCL is an open source, constraint based record and functional language that enhances the writing of complex configurations, including those for cloud native scenarios. With its advanced programming language technology and practices, KCL is dedicated to promoting better modularity, scalability, and stability for configurations. It enables simpler logic writing and offers ease of automation APIs and integration with homegrown systems. What is it for? You can use…
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Frequently asked questions
Is jenkins or kcl more popular?
jenkins has 26,719 GitHub stars and kcl has 2,440. jenkins has the larger community by that measure.
Are jenkins and kcl free?
Both are open source. jenkins is licensed under MIT and kcl under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jenkins and kcl?
jenkins is written in Java and kcl in Rust. 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 kcl?
Choose jenkins if you want the larger community (26,719 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose kcl if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.