go-crond 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 | go-crond | Jobber |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 5 · At risk | 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 | ★ 143 | ★ 1,415 |
| First released | 2017 | 2015 |
| Replaces | cron | cron |
What are go-crond and Jobber?
go-crond
go-crond is a small cron daemon written in Go that runs scheduled jobs from crontab-style files, designed for use inside containers and minimal environments. It is self-hosted as a single binary.
- Container-friendly cron
- Single static binary
- Crontab-compatible
- Run jobs as users
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
go-crond vs Jobber: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Go-crond 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 go-crond arrived in 2017. Jobber has the considerably larger community, at 1,415 GitHub stars versus 143. Go-crond lists first-class Docker deployment; Jobber does not.
Why pick each one
Choose go-crond 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 go-crond 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 go-crond and Jobber free and open-source?
Yes. go-crond is licensed under MIT and Jobber under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run go-crond and Jobber with Docker?
go-crond: yes. Jobber: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, go-crond or Jobber?
go-crond 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.