head to head · open source
jenkins vs octodns
jenkins has 26,556 GitHub stars, 9,835 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped yesterday. octodns has 3,759 stars, 442 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. jenkins leads on adoption by 606% (26,556 vs 3,759 stars). jenkins is written in Java under MIT; octodns is written in Python under MIT. jenkins has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, octodns 12%. 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 | octodns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 442 |
| 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 octodns if
- You want the octodns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and octodns 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 octodns
octoDNS is a Python tool for managing DNS records across multiple providers. It applies an infrastructure as code pattern to DNS, so record definitions can be stored in a repository, reviewed, and deployed through the same workflow used for other code. The project sits in the Infrastructure & Operations / Cloud Infrastructure Management category.
read the full octodns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jenkins or octodns more popular?
jenkins has 26,556 GitHub stars and octodns has 3,759. jenkins has the larger community by that measure.
Are jenkins and octodns free?
Both are open source. jenkins is licensed under MIT and octodns under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jenkins and octodns?
jenkins is written in Java and octodns 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 octodns?
Choose jenkins if you want the larger community (26,556 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose octodns if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.