head to head · open source
salt vs Saturn
salt has 15,729 GitHub stars, 5,604 forks, 1,885 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Saturn has 2,306 stars, 684 forks, 279 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. salt leads on adoption by 582% (15,729 vs 2,306 stars). salt is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Saturn is written in Java under Apache-2.0. salt has attracted 36% as many forks as stars, Saturn 30%. salt 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
| salt | Saturn | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2025-11-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 684 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick salt if
- You weight community size — 16K 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 Saturn if
- You want the Saturn 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 Saturn fits your workflow better
About salt
.. image:: :alt: Salt Project License: Apache v2.0 :target: .. image:: :alt: PyPi Package Downloads :target: .. image:: :alt: Salt Project Discord Community :target: .. image:: :alt: Salt Project subreddit :target: .. image:: :alt: Follow SaltStack on Twitter :target: .. figure:: :scale: 80 % :width: 1000px :height: 356px :align: center :alt: Salt Project Logo Latest Salt Documentation Open an issue (bug report, feature request, etc.) .. note:: When using salt cloud p with a profile, pass only the VM name on the command line. Specify VM attributes (memory, cpu, vcpu, etc.) in the profile configuration, not as…
About Saturn
Saturn is a platform created by VIP.com(唯品会) to provide a distributed, fault tolerant and high available job scheduling service. Why Saturn? Time based and language unrestricted job Easy job implmentation and web based management Parallel subtask(shard) scheduling 1 second level scheduling supported Intelligent load based job allocation Fail detection & failover support Statistical data visualization All around monitoring and easy troubleshooting Multi active cluster deployment support Container friendly Stand the test of billion times scheduling per day and more Quick Start 快速安装 Make sure below stuff already…
read the full Saturn overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is salt or Saturn more popular?
salt has 15,729 GitHub stars and Saturn has 2,306. salt has the larger community by that measure.
Are salt and Saturn free?
Both are open source. salt is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Saturn under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between salt and Saturn?
salt is written in Python and Saturn 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, salt or Saturn?
Choose salt if you want the larger community (15,729 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Saturn if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.