Crontab UI vs Ofelia
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Crontab UI | Ofelia |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,287 | ★ 3,996 |
| First released | 2016 | 2016 |
| Replaces | cron | cron |
What are Crontab UI and Ofelia?
Crontab UI
Crontab UI is a web application that makes managing the system crontab safe and easy, offering job editing, logging, backups, and import or export. It removes the risk of hand-editing crontab files.
- Visual crontab editing
- Job execution logs
- Backup and restore
- Import and export jobs
Ofelia
Ofelia is a modern, lightweight job scheduler for Docker environments, intended as a replacement for cron. It can run jobs inside containers, in new containers or on the host on a schedule.
- Cron replacement for Docker
- Run jobs in existing or new containers
- Configuration via labels or INI
- Slack and email notifications
Crontab UI vs Ofelia: key differences
Crontab UI is written in JavaScript, while Ofelia is built with Go. Ofelia is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Crontab UI.
Why pick each one
Choose Crontab UI if…
- Safer than editing crontab
- Simple interface
Watch out for
- Single-host scope
- Basic scheduling only
Frequently asked questions
Is Crontab UI or Ofelia better?
Neither is universally better. Ofelia has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Crontab UI and Ofelia free and open-source?
Yes. Crontab UI is licensed under MIT and Ofelia under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Crontab UI and Ofelia with Docker?
Crontab UI: yes. Ofelia: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Crontab UI or Ofelia?
Ofelia has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Crontab UI. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.