Drone vs act
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted ci/cd & build options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Drone
Container-based continuous delivery platform
VS
act
Run GitHub Actions workflows locally for fast feedback
| Feature | Drone | act |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CI/CD & Build | CI/CD & Build |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37,713 | ★ 71,417 |
| First released | 2014 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Jenkins, CircleCI | GitHub Actions |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Drone or act better?
act is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Drone if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Drone and act free and open-source?
Yes. Drone is licensed under Apache-2.0 and act under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drone and act with Docker?
Drone: yes. act: check the project docs for container support.