actions-runner-controllervsDocker Engine
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| actions-runner-controller | Docker Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #7 of 28 in CI/CD | #1 of 11 in Container Orchestration |
| GitHub stars | 6 611 | 72 217 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +94 | +85 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 6 | 17 |
| Latest release | gha-runner-scale-set-0.15.1 · 23 Oct 2026 | docker-v29.9.2 · 20 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Docker Engine scores 80/100 against 71/100 for actions-runner-controller, so it is the safer default.
Docker Engine ships more often: 17 stable releases in the past year, against 6 for actions-runner-controller.
actions-runner-controller details →Docker Engine details →