Chadburn vs Jobber
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Chadburn | Jobber |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 57 · Fair | 15 · At risk |
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 78 | ★ 1,415 |
| First released | 2021 | 2015 |
| Replaces | cron | cron |
What are Chadburn and Jobber?
Chadburn
Chadburn is a job scheduler inspired by Ofelia that runs scheduled tasks defined as Docker labels or in an INI file, designed for container environments. It is self-hosted as a single lightweight binary.
- Docker-label job scheduling
- INI file config
- Container-native
- Lightweight binary
Jobber
Jobber is an open-source replacement for cron written in Go, adding job execution history, automatic retries, and error notifications. It is self-hosted to run scheduled tasks more reliably.
- Cron with retries
- Job execution history
- Error notifications
- Lightweight
Chadburn vs Jobber: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Chadburn is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 64 MB for Jobber. Jobber is the more established project (first released 2015), while Chadburn arrived in 2021. Jobber has the considerably larger community, at 1,415 GitHub stars versus 78. Chadburn lists first-class Docker deployment; Jobber does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Chadburn if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Choose Jobber if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Chadburn or Jobber better?
Neither is universally better. Jobber has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Chadburn and Jobber free and open-source?
Yes. Chadburn is licensed under MIT and Jobber under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chadburn and Jobber with Docker?
Chadburn: yes. Jobber: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Chadburn or Jobber?
Chadburn has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 64 MB for Jobber. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.