semantic-release

📦🚀 Fully automated version management and package publishing

FerrFlow, Changesets, release-please and more. 12 alternatives to semantic-release, in Rust, TypeScript, Go, JavaScript, Python. Compare fit, licence, stars and the latest signed release.

Side by side

12 open source alternatives to semantic-release
Tool	Fit	Stars	Licence	Terms	Self-hosted	Language	Latest	Last push
FerrFlow	Full replacement	7	MIT	Open source	No	Rust	v7.36.1	2026-11-12
Changesets	Full replacement	13k	MIT	Open source	No	TypeScript	@changesets/cli@3.0.3	2026-11-08
release-please	Full replacement	7.8k	Apache-2.0	Open source	No	TypeScript	v17.11.2	2026-11-03
cocogitto	Full replacement	1.2k	MIT	Open source	No	Rust	7.0.0	2026-04-22
knope	Full replacement	207	MIT	Open source	No	Rust	knope/v0.23.2	2026-11-11
GoReleaser	Partial	16k	MIT	Open source	No	Go	v2.20.1	2026-11-12
git-cliff	Partial	12k	Apache-2.0	Open source	No	Rust	v2.14.2	2026-11-02
release-it	Partial	9.1k	MIT	Open source	No	JavaScript	21.1.2	2026-10-30
conventional-changelog	Partial	8.5k	ISC	Open source	No	TypeScript	template-v1.4.1	2026-11-12
Commitizen	Partial	3.5k	MIT	Open source	No	Python	v4.19.3	2026-10-25
cargo-release	Partial	1.6k	Apache-2.0	Open source	No	Rust	v1.1.7	2026-11-01
release-plz	Partial	1.5k	Apache-2.0	Open source	No	Rust	release-plz-v0.4.3	2026-11-12

Every alternative

12 alternatives

FerrFlow Full replacement

Universal semantic versioning for monorepos and classic repos. One binary reads your commits, bumps 16 version-file formats, writes the changelog and cuts the release.

Monorepos across 16 version-file formats from one binary.

Language: Rust
Licence: MIT
Stars: 7
Latest: v7.36.1
Last push: 2026-11-12

Changesets Full replacement

🦋 A tool to manage versioning and changelogs with a focus on monorepos

Versions from changeset files written in each pull request instead of commit messages.

Language: TypeScript
Licence: MIT
Stars: 13k
Latest: @changesets/cli@3.0.3
Last push: 2026-11-08

release-please Full replacement

generate release PRs based on the conventionalcommits.org spec

Opens a release pull request instead of releasing on every merge.

Language: TypeScript
Licence: Apache-2.0
Stars: 7.8k
Latest: v17.11.2
Last push: 2026-11-03

cocogitto Full replacement

The Conventional Commits toolbox

Language: Rust
Licence: MIT
Stars: 1.2k
Latest: 7.0.0
Last push: 2026-04-22

knope Full replacement

A command line tool to handle all the tasks most developers find tedious.

Also reads changesets, not only conventional commits.

Language: Rust
Licence: MIT
Stars: 207
Latest: knope/v0.23.2
Last push: 2026-11-11

GoReleaser Partial

Release engineering, simplified

Builds, packages and publishes release artifacts and changelogs for Go projects, but takes the version from a tag.

Language: Go
Licence: MIT
Stars: 16k
Latest: v2.20.1
Last push: 2026-11-12

git-cliff Partial

A highly customizable Changelog Generator that follows Conventional Commit specifications ⛰️

Changelog generation only, no version bump or publish.

Language: Rust
Licence: Apache-2.0
Stars: 12k
Latest: v2.14.2
Last push: 2026-11-02

release-it Partial

🚀 Automate versioning and package publishing

Bumps, tags and publishes to npm and GitHub, interactively or in CI; versions from commits need a plugin.

Language: JavaScript
Licence: MIT
Stars: 9.1k
Latest: 21.1.2
Last push: 2026-10-30

conventional-changelog Partial

Generate changelogs and release notes from a project's commit messages and metadata.

Changelog generation from Conventional Commits only, with no version bump or publish.

Language: TypeScript
Licence: ISC
Stars: 8.5k
Latest: template-v1.4.1
Last push: 2026-11-12

Commitizen Partial

Create committing rules for projects :rocket: auto bump versions :arrow_up: and auto changelog generation :open_file_folder:

Bumps the version, writes the changelog and tags from conventional commits, but does not publish packages or releases.

Language: Python
Licence: MIT
Stars: 3.5k
Latest: v4.19.3
Last push: 2026-10-25

cargo-release Partial

Cargo subcommand `release`: everything about releasing a rust crate.

Bumps the version, tags and publishes Cargo workspaces from a command, without deriving the bump from commit messages.

Language: Rust
Licence: Apache-2.0
Stars: 1.6k
Latest: v1.1.7
Last push: 2026-11-01

release-plz Partial

Publish Rust crates from CI with a Release PR.

Cargo workspaces only.

Language: Rust
Licence: Apache-2.0
Stars: 1.5k
Latest: release-plz-v0.4.3
Last push: 2026-11-12

Head to head

About semantic-release

Language: JavaScript
Licence: MIT
Stars: 24k
Last push: 2026-11-06

About semantic-release →