act vs Tekton
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted ci/cd & build options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | act | Tekton |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | CI/CD & Build | CI/CD & Build |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 72,082 | ★ 9,067 |
| First released | 2019 | 2018 |
| Replaces | GitHub Actions | Jenkins, GitHub Actions |
What are act and Tekton?
act
act lets developers run GitHub Actions workflows on their own machine using Docker, providing fast local feedback before pushing. It reads the same workflow files used by GitHub so behavior closely matches CI.
- Local GitHub Actions runs
- Docker-based execution
- Reuses workflow files
- Fast feedback loop
Tekton
Tekton is a Kubernetes-native open-source framework for creating CI/CD systems. It provides pipelines, tasks, and triggers as Kubernetes custom resources for portable automation.
- Kubernetes-native pipelines
- Reusable tasks and steps
- Event-driven triggers
- Cloud-portable
act vs Tekton: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — MIT for act versus Apache-2.0 for Tekton. Act is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Tekton. Act has the considerably larger community, at 72,082 GitHub stars versus 9,067.
Why pick each one
Choose act if…
- Test CI before pushing
- Saves CI minutes
Watch out for
- Not all actions supported
- Docker required
Choose Tekton if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 9.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is act or Tekton better?
act is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Tekton if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are act and Tekton free and open-source?
Yes. act is licensed under MIT and Tekton under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run act and Tekton with Docker?
act: check the project docs for container support. Tekton: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, act or Tekton?
act has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Tekton. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.