Compare / Woodpecker CI vs Jenkins
Woodpecker CI vs Jenkins
Pick Woodpecker if you want the maintained Drone fork and the published CircleCI/GitHub Actions stack. Pick Jenkins if you already live there — not a greenfield Drone replacement.
Facts checked 17 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Woodpecker CI in the catalog Jenkins in the catalogStart on Railway
How they compare
| Woodpecker CI | Jenkins | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Apache-2.0 (catalog) source | MIT License (catalog) source |
| Language | Go (catalog) | Java (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 8,011 stars in the catalog | 26,670 stars in the catalog |
| Self-host | Server + agent with Docker. Maintained Drone fork. | Existing Jenkins estate. Heavier greenfield install. |
| Best for | Git-push pipelines you host. | An existing Jenkins estate, not a greenfield Drone replacement. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Woodpecker is /stacks/woodpecker-ci: server + at least one agent with Docker. Jenkins is the MIT automation server still named on that stack. Official Drone now redirects to Harness Open Source, so Drone is not ranked as its own row. CircleCI YAML will not run as-is.
FAQ
- Will my CircleCI YAML run as-is?
- No. Woodpecker and Gitea Actions use their own pipeline files. Port the jobs you still run.
- Where is Drone?
- drone/drone and harness/drone redirect to Harness Open Source. Woodpecker is the maintained Apache-2.0 Drone fork this site publishes.
- Gitea Actions?
- Gitea is in the catalog and on /best/ci-cd if the git host is already Gitea. Forgejo is the published git-host stack — see /compare/gitea-vs-forgejo.
- How do I deploy Woodpecker?
- Open /stacks/woodpecker-ci. Git hosting can sit on /stacks/forgejo-git.
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