head to head · open source
compose vs puppetry
compose has 38,195 GitHub stars, 5,825 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. puppetry has 888 stars, 127 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. compose leads on adoption by 4,201% (38,195 vs 888 stars). compose is written in Go under Apache-2.0; puppetry is written in JavaScript under MIT. compose has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, puppetry 14%. compose 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| compose | puppetry | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 888 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-06-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 127 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick compose if
- You weight community size — 38K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick puppetry if
- You want the puppetry feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and puppetry fits your workflow better
About compose
Docker Compose is an Apache 2.0 licensed Go tool that defines and runs multi container applications on Docker from a single Compose file, aimed at developers and operators who need several containers to start together as one isolated application.
read the full compose overview →
About puppetry
Puppetry is a no code/low code end to end web testing tool built on top of Puppeteer and Jest, aimed at QA engineers, testers, and developers who want to record and manage browser tests through a UI instead of writing scripts — though the project is now officially deprecated and kept only as an example and a piece of its own history.
read the full puppetry overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is compose or puppetry more popular?
compose has 38,195 GitHub stars and puppetry has 888. compose has the larger community by that measure.
Are compose and puppetry free?
Both are open source. compose is licensed under Apache-2.0 and puppetry under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between compose and puppetry?
compose is written in Go and puppetry in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, compose or puppetry?
Choose compose if you want the larger community (38,195 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose puppetry if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.