Rundeck review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Runbook automation and job scheduling for IT operations
Black Friday: is there a Rundeck sale?
Rundeck report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for running ops jobs and runbooks on a schedule
Rundeck runs scripts, commands and API calls as scheduled or on-demand jobs, with a free open-source Community edition. Community is self-hosted and needs a registration step, and single sign-on, high availability and enterprise support sit in paid editions with no published price.
Who Rundeck is for
- Fits if your ops team runs scripts across many servers and wants a job log
- Works for small teams that can host the free Community edition
Who Rundeck is not for
- Not for you if you need single sign-on or high availability, since those aren't in Community
- Skip it if you don't want to host it, as Community is self-hosted
- Watch out: commercial pricing isn't published; a PagerDuty Runbook Automation licence is bought through sales
- Watch out: a free trial of the commercial product is offered, but its length isn't stated
Why Rundeck gets a 2.2
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyCommunity is free but self-hosted. The commercial editions are quoted through sales, so there's no price to set against the category.
- BFree plan and trialCommunity is free, open source and covers workflows, scheduling, key storage and a job log. You host it yourself.
- CFeaturesWorkflow execution, scheduling, plugins, key storage and runners. Single sign-on, high availability and enterprise support aren't in the free edition.
- DEase of useNo store rating on record. You install it on your own servers, and Community needs registration to download.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, Windows, Linux and Mac, with 8 integrations and plugins.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from PagerDuty's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Rundeck? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/rundeck#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/rundeck.svg" alt="Rundeck: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Rundeck stands among automation tools
Rundeck's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 54 of the 134 other automation tools we grade, and level with 35.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 100 of 134) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 135 automation tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Rundeck’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 22 of 134, level with 82
- BFree plan and trialAbove 100 of 134, level with 23
- CFeaturesAbove 2 of 134, level with 83
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 134, level with 26
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 39 of 134, level with 95
Keep Rundeck, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Rundeck you would be making connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Rundeck is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could make
- Job scheduling: an app builder makes this well.
What you could not
- Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
- Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other.
What this rests on. Rundeck’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Rundeck?
Rundeck is a runbook automation tool, now part of PagerDuty, for running jobs and operations procedures across scripts, APIs and system commands. A free open-source Community edition is licensed under Apache 2.0, and PagerDuty Runbook Automation adds commercial features such as high availability and enterprise support.
Worth knowing
- Single sign-on, high-availability clusters and enterprise support are not in the free Community edition.
- Commercial pricing is not published; the downloads page says a license for PagerDuty Runbook Automation is bought through sales.
- Community is self-hosted and needs a registration step before download.
Key features
- Workflow execution
- Jobs chain scripts, tools, APIs and system commands into standard procedures such as provisioning, software updates and configuration changes.
- Job scheduling
- Scheduled and self-service jobs for daily reports, file transfers and other periodic work, as an alternative to maintaining cron or Windows Task Scheduler.
- Job activity log
- Execution history for commands and jobs shows when each ran, its log output and duration, which supports auditing.
- Plugins
- Community plugins connect Rundeck to infrastructure and tools, and teams can write their own. Certified enterprise plugins come with the commercial editions.
- Key storage and encryption
- The Community edition includes key and password encryption and a key storage facility.
- High availability and runners
- The commercial editions add clusters with automatic takeover, failed-job resume, node health checks and the next-generation runner for remote environments.
Rundeck pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Rundeck has a free plan.
- Starts at
- Not published
- Free plan
- Rundeck Community is free, open source software with workflow execution, scheduling, key storage and a job activity log.
- Free trial
- Free trial of the commercial product offered; length not stated
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Rundeck Community | $0 | Free open-source edition you host yourself, for small teams; registration is needed to download. |
| Runbook Automation Self Hosted | Custom | Commercial edition you host, with high availability, enterprise support and certified plugins. License sold through sales. |
| Runbook Automation | Custom | PagerDuty-hosted edition with a stated 99.9% availability SLA, single sign-on and managed security patching. |
Read from rundeck.com on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Rundeck before you buy.
Works with
- PagerDuty
- ServiceNow
- Datadog
- VMware
- GitHub
- AWS
- Kubernetes
- Ansible
Rundeck alternatives
- Rundeck vs Kestra
Free plan
- Rundeck vs Tines
Free plan
Common questions
Does Rundeck have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Rundeck is listed for Web, Windows, Linux and macOS.
Does Rundeck have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Rundeck is listed for Web, Windows, Linux and macOS.
Is Rundeck open source?
Yes. Rundeck is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.