Drone vs Woodpecker CI: Self-Hosted Container CI
Pick Woodpecker for a fully open-source (Apache-2.0), community-governed, container-native CI; pick Drone if you want the established project with commercial backing and enterprise features, accepting its license terms.
Woodpecker CI began as a community fork of Drone after Drone s licensing changed, and the two share a lot of DNA: both are lightweight, container-native, self-hosted CI systems where each pipeline step runs in a container. The practical differences today are governance and licensing, plus some feature and integration divergence as the projects evolve separately.
| Drone | Woodpecker | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Original project (Harness-backed) | Community fork of Drone |
| License | Source-available terms apply | Apache-2.0 (fully open source) |
| Governance | Vendor-led | Community-led |
| Pipeline model | Container steps (.drone.yml) | Container steps (.woodpecker.yml) |
| SCM support | GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, etc. | GitHub, GitLab, Gitea/Forgejo, etc. |
| Hosting | Self-hosted server + runners | Self-hosted server + agents |
Where each genuinely wins
Woodpecker wins for teams that want a clearly open-source license and community governance, with no vendor licensing concerns; it is popular with Gitea/Forgejo and self-hosting communities. Drone wins if you prefer the original, more established project with commercial support and enterprise-oriented features, and its license terms are acceptable for your use.
Config and migration
Because Woodpecker forked Drone, pipeline concepts are very similar (container steps, plugins as images), so moving between them is usually low-friction, though syntax and plugin details have drifted as the projects diverge. Check current docs for differences in secrets handling, matrix builds, and plugin compatibility before migrating either way.
Self-hosting and ops
Both are self-hosted: you run a server and one or more agents/runners and own upgrades, scaling, and reliability. They are lightweight compared to heavier CI servers, which is part of their appeal, but you still carry the operational burden of patching and capacity that any self-hosted CI implies.
The verdict
Choose Woodpecker for a fully open-source, community-governed container CI, especially in Gitea/Forgejo setups. Choose Drone if you want the original project with commercial backing and its enterprise features and accept its licensing.