head to head · open source
OpenTofu vs OpenStack
OpenTofu has 30,204 GitHub stars, 1,367 forks, 320 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenStack has 6,034 stars, 1,625 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenTofu leads on adoption by 401% (30,204 vs 6,034 stars). OpenTofu is written in Go under MPL-2.0; OpenStack is written in Python under Apache-2.0. OpenTofu has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, OpenStack 27%. OpenStack 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 | OpenStack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 OpenStack if
- You want the OpenStack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and OpenStack 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 OpenStack
OpenStack is a collection of interoperable components that can be deployed together to provide computing, networking and storage resources. Those infrastructure resources are then exposed to end users through programmable APIs, so that capacity can be requested and managed by software rather than by hand. The project lives in the Python ecosystem and is released under the Apache 2.0 license, with development coordinated at opendev.org and documentation hosted at openstack.org.
read the full OpenStack overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenTofu or OpenStack more popular?
OpenTofu has 30,204 GitHub stars and OpenStack has 6,034. OpenTofu has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenTofu and OpenStack free?
Both are open source. OpenTofu is licensed under MPL-2.0 and OpenStack under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenTofu and OpenStack?
OpenTofu is written in Go and OpenStack 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 OpenStack?
Choose OpenTofu if you want the larger community (30,204 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenStack if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.