# harness vs openpencil

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | harness | openpencil |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 ✓ | 73/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 28 in CI/CD | #2 of 7 in Design |
| GitHub stars | 38 761 ✓ | 9 428 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +327 | +827 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 6 | 14 ✓ |
| Latest release | v2.28.2 · 20 Apr 2026 | v0.16.0 · 14 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Easy | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Go | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

harness scores 80/100 against 73/100 for openpencil, so it is the safer default.

openpencil ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 6 for harness.

openpencil is growing faster right now (+827 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [harness](https://selfhost.directory/project/harness) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/harness.md)
- [openpencil](https://selfhost.directory/project/openpencil) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/openpencil.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/harness-vs-openpencil