Drone vs Laminar
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted ci/cd & build options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Drone | Laminar |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 77 · Good |
| Category | CI/CD & Build | CI/CD & Build |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 38,428 | ★ 354 |
| First released | 2014 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Jenkins, CircleCI | Jenkins |
What are Drone and Laminar?
Drone
Drone is a container-based continuous integration and delivery platform that runs each pipeline step in an isolated container. It targets teams wanting CI defined entirely in code. It is deployed via Docker.
- Pipelines defined as code
- Every step runs in a container
- Many Git provider integrations
- Plugin ecosystem
Laminar
Laminar is a fast, lightweight CI service that runs build jobs defined as simple shell scripts. It avoids heavy configuration in favor of plain scripts and a minimal web dashboard.
- Scripts as build jobs
- Tiny resource footprint
- Real-time job output
- No web configuration needed
Drone vs Laminar: key differences
Drone is written in Go, while Laminar is built with C++. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Drone versus GPL-3.0 for Laminar. Laminar is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Drone. Drone is the more established project (first released 2014), while Laminar arrived in 2016. Drone has the considerably larger community, at 38,428 GitHub stars versus 354. Drone lists first-class Docker deployment; Laminar does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Drone if…
- Clean container model
- Configuration as code
- Scales with runners
Watch out for
- Now under commercial steward
- Spurred the Woodpecker fork
Choose Laminar if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Drone or Laminar better?
Neither is universally better. Drone has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Drone and Laminar free and open-source?
Yes. Drone is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Laminar under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drone and Laminar with Docker?
Drone: yes. Laminar: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Drone or Laminar?
Laminar has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Drone. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.