head to head · open source
portainer vs gocd
portainer has 38,767 GitHub stars, 2,934 forks, 757 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gocd has 7,436 stars, 986 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped yesterday. portainer leads on adoption by 421% (38,767 vs 7,436 stars). portainer is written in TypeScript under Zlib; gocd is written in Java under Apache-2.0. portainer has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, gocd 13%. portainer 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
| portainer | gocd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 7.4K |
| License | Zlib | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 986 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick portainer if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gocd if
- You want the gocd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and gocd fits your workflow better
About portainer
Portainer Community Edition is a free, lightweight container management UI for Docker, Swarm, Podman, Kubernetes, and ACI environments. It is provided as is, at no cost, for the convenience of homelab operators, hobbyists, students, and anyone experimenting with containers on their own hardware. Portainer Business Edition builds on the same open source base and adds the features, hardening, and commercial support that production and enterprise environments require (RBAC, GitOps, edge management, audit, SSO, and more). Find out more about Portainer Business Edition features Take3 – get 3 free nodes of Portainer…
read the full portainer overview →
About gocd
GoCD This is the main repository for GoCD a continuous delivery server. GoCD helps you automate and streamline the build test release cycle for worry free, continuous delivery of your product. To quickly build your first pipeline while learning key GoCD concepts, visit our Test Drive GoCD. To download GoCD, visit the downloads page. For more detailed user help, read our docs. Security Please see the security policy for details on GoCD's security status, and how to responsibly disclose issues. Development GoCD is predominantly a Java & TypeScript project utilising Spring Framework, SparkJava & MithrilJS as key…
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Frequently asked questions
Is portainer or gocd more popular?
portainer has 38,767 GitHub stars and gocd has 7,436. portainer has the larger community by that measure.
Are portainer and gocd free?
Both are open source. portainer is licensed under Zlib and gocd under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between portainer and gocd?
portainer is written in TypeScript and gocd 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, portainer or gocd?
Choose portainer if you want the larger community (38,767 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose gocd if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.