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Open source automation

Automation software designed to reduce human intervention in processes. 32 self-hosted automation tools are listed here, ordered purely by a repository health score that Repoly recomputes nightly. Apache Airflow leads at 99/100 with 2,419 commits in the last 90 days and 47k stars, followed by Activepieces (98) and changedetection.io (98). 20 of the 32 score 70 or above, 22 publish a Docker image, and the median health is 85. MIT is the most common licence, carried by 9 of them. Between them they stand in for Mailchimp, Zapier, Adobe Acrobat, Workday and BambooHR and 1 more proprietary products. The score weighs commits in the last 90 days, release recency, stars, archive status and Docker support; a low number means low measurable activity, not low quality, so a finished, stable tool can legitimately sit lower down.

updated Oct 2026 32 tools ★ 493k stars 22 with Docker median 85

Best for…

  • Most starred

    n8n

    209,087 stars on GitHub, the largest community in the category.

  • Most active

    Apache Airflow

    2,419 commits in the last 90 days, the fastest-moving codebase here.

  • Most permissive

    Activepieces

    MIT licence with health 98/100: the strongest option if you need to embed or fork commercially.

Ranked by health

Table view

How the automation tools compare

Apache Airflow edges Activepieces 99 to 98, and most of the difference is stars: 47k stars against 25k stars. n8n has the largest following at 209k stars, yet ranks #14 of 32, held back mostly by Docker support (no Docker image).

The most recent release is n8n [email protected], published today. LazyLibrarian publishes no tagged releases, which costs up to 25 of the 100 points. Matchering and Kibitzr score under 40, so check recent activity before adopting them. By stack, Python (8), Go (5) and Nodejs (4) are the most common. Apache Airflow, Activepieces, changedetection.io and 15 more are permissively licensed; Dagu, Cronmaster, Discount Bandit and 8 more are copyleft. n8n, CxReports and Ctfreak are source-available rather than open source, which limits commercial reuse. CxReports and Ctfreak are not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so they have no measured score yet.

Automation: common questions

What is the best open source automation tool?

By Repoly's GitHub health score, Apache Airflow at 99/100 (2,419 commits in 90 days, 3.3.2 from 1 month ago). Activepieces is next at 98; Apache Airflow's lead comes mostly from stars. The score measures maintenance, not features, so shortlist the top few and try them.

Which automation tools are the most actively developed?

n8n (4,027 commits in 90 days), Apache Airflow (2,419 commits in 90 days) and Kestra (1,861 commits in 90 days). Commit activity is 35 of the 100 health points, the largest single term.

Which automation tools can I run in Docker?

22 of 32 publish a Docker image or Compose file, led by Apache Airflow, Activepieces, changedetection.io, Kestra, Gotenberg and 17 more.

Which automation tools have a permissive licence?

18 of 32: Apache Airflow (Apache-2.0), Activepieces (MIT), changedetection.io (Apache-2.0), Kestra (Apache-2.0), Gotenberg (MIT) and 13 more. 11 are copyleft.

Which paid products can open source automation tools replace?

Mailchimp (Dittofeed ranks highest here), Zapier (Apache Airflow ranks highest here), Adobe Acrobat (Gotenberg ranks highest here), Workday (ChiefOnboarding ranks highest here) and BambooHR (ChiefOnboarding ranks highest here), plus 1 more listed on the comparison pages.

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