head to head · open source
Kestra vs jenkins
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars, 2,999 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jenkins has 26,559 stars, 9,834 forks, 3,610 open issues and last shipped today. Kestra leads on adoption by 6% (28,148 vs 26,559 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; jenkins is written in Java under MIT. Kestra has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, jenkins 37%. jenkins was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (devops, hacktoberfest), 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
| Kestra | jenkins | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 27K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 9.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kestra if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick jenkins if
- You want the jenkins feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and jenkins fits your workflow better
About Kestra
Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It operates in the Java based ecosystem and is licensed under Apache 2.0. The project provides a unified interface for both scheduled and real time automation, supporting declarative workflow definitions in YAML while also offering visual and AI assisted authoring.
read the full Kestra overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or jenkins more popular?
Kestra has 28,148 GitHub stars and jenkins has 26,559. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and jenkins free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and jenkins under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and jenkins?
Kestra is written in Java and jenkins in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Kestra or jenkins?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (28,148 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose jenkins if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.