head to head · open source
OpenTofu vs homelab
OpenTofu has 30,209 GitHub stars, 1,368 forks, 320 open issues and last shipped yesterday. homelab has 9,608 stars, 884 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. OpenTofu leads on adoption by 214% (30,209 vs 9,608 stars). OpenTofu is written in Go under MPL-2.0; homelab is written in Python under GPL-3.0. OpenTofu has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, homelab 9%. OpenTofu 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
| OpenTofu | homelab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 9.6K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 884 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenTofu if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 OpenTofu
OpenTofu is an open source infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that enables users to define and manage cloud and on premises infrastructure using declarative configuration files. It lives in the cloud infrastructure management ecosystem and serves as a community driven fork of Terraform, maintaining compatibility with Terraform’s configuration language and provider ecosystem while operating under the MPL 2.0 license.
read the full OpenTofu overview →
About homelab
homelab is an Infrastructure as Code and GitOps framework written in Python and released under GPL 3.0 that takes a homelab from an empty disk to running self hosted services with a single command, built for self hosters, home operations practitioners, and anyone who wants to run their own services on Kubernetes.
read the full homelab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenTofu or homelab more popular?
OpenTofu has 30,209 GitHub stars and homelab has 9,608. OpenTofu has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenTofu and homelab free?
Both are open source. OpenTofu is licensed under MPL-2.0 and homelab under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenTofu and homelab?
OpenTofu is written in Go 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, OpenTofu or homelab?
Choose OpenTofu if you want the larger community (30,209 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose homelab if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.