head to head · open source
prowler vs rundeck
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars, 2,479 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rundeck has 6,353 stars, 989 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped yesterday. prowler leads on adoption by 139% (15,159 vs 6,353 stars). prowler is written in Python under Apache-2.0; rundeck is written in Groovy under Apache-2.0. prowler has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, rundeck 16%. rundeck was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| prowler | rundeck | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 6.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Groovy |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 989 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick prowler if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rundeck if
- You want the rundeck feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Groovy
- You evaluated both and rundeck fits your workflow better
About prowler
Prowler is the Open Cloud Security Platform trusted by thousands to automate security and compliance in any cloud environment. With thousands of ready to use checks and compliance frameworks, Prowler delivers real time, customizable monitoring and seamless integrations, making cloud security simple, scalable, and cost effective for organizations of any size. The Agentic Cloud Defender Try Prowler Cloud Join our Prowler community! Description Prowler is the world’s most widely used Open Source Cloud Security Platform that automates security and compliance across any cloud environment . With thousands of ready to…
read the full prowler overview →
About rundeck
Execute workflows across your existing automations or quickly automate previously manual procedures. Rundeck by PagerDuty is an open source runbook automation service with a web console, command line tools and a WebAPI. It lets you easily standardize tasks to improve operational quality by deploying automation across a set of nodes. Visit the Website Read the latest documentation Get help from the Community Install Rundeck See the Release Notes for the latest version information. How To Build: Primary build is supported with gradle. More info in the wiki. Requirements: Java 11, NodeJs 18 Cloudsmith…
read the full rundeck overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is prowler or rundeck more popular?
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars and rundeck has 6,353. prowler has the larger community by that measure.
Are prowler and rundeck free?
Both are open source. prowler is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rundeck under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between prowler and rundeck?
prowler is written in Python and rundeck in Groovy. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, prowler or rundeck?
Choose prowler if you want the larger community (15,159 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rundeck if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.