# git-cliff vs release-drafter

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** release-drafter

| Attribute | git-cliff | release-drafter |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 50.7 (62% (medium)) | 61.5 (61% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 28 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 17 | 15,868 |
| adoption.github_stars | 12,299 | 3,948 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"An open-source changelog generation tool that parses conventional commits to produce formatted release notes with extensive customization options. It is indexed under Changelog Tools.","source":"https://git-cliff.org/","question":"What is git-cliff?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"git-cliff is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://git-cliff.org/","question":"Is git-cliff free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"git-cliff supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://git-cliff.org/","question":"What platforms does git-cliff support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. git-cliff can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://git-cliff.org/","question":"Can git-cliff be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. git-cliff is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff","question":"Is git-cliff open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"A GitHub Action that maintains an up-to-date draft release by categorizing merged pull requests. Supports custom templates, semantic versioning, contributor tracking, and automated version resolution. It is indexed under Changelog Tools.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"What is release-drafter?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"release-drafter is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the ISC licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"Is release-drafter free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to release-drafter. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"What platforms does release-drafter support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for release-drafter, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"Can release-drafter be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. release-drafter is published under the ISC licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter","question":"Is release-drafter open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Generates changelogs from Git repositories with support for conventional commits and custom regex-powered parsing rules, fully configurable through configuration files. | Release Drafter is a GitHub Action that generates and manages release notes automatically. It creates drafts based on merged pull requests, supporting semantic versioning, conventional commits, and customizable release templates with category-based organization. |
| features.capabilities | `{"semver_automation":true,"open_source_self_host":true,"conventional_commits_support":true}` | `{"ci_cd_integration":true,"semver_automation":true,"open_source_self_host":true,"conventional_commits_support":true}` |
| integrations.count | 7 | 5 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"GitHub","native":true,"category":"git","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"GitLab","native":true,"category":"git","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Gitea","native":true,"category":"git","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Bitbucket","native":true,"category":"git","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Azure DevOps","native":true,"category":"git","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Rust","native":true},{"name":"Python","native":true}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"GitHub Enterprise Server","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"GitLab","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Gitea","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Forgejo","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"}]` |
| language.primary | Rust | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | ISC |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://git-cliff.org/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-18T12:52:17.030Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://github.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-14T21:31:50.088Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 37 | 8 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.14.2","date":"2026-09-18T21:22:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.14.1","date":"2026-09-01T14:46:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.13.1","date":"2026-04-26T10:17:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.13.0","date":"2026-04-26T09:32:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.12.0","date":"2026-01-20T17:33:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.11.0","date":"2025-12-14T15:47:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.10.1","date":"2025-09-21T16:28:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.10.0","date":"2025-07-27T12:22:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.10.0-rc.0","date":"2025-07-27T12:03:48Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.10.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.9.1","date":"2025-06-03T10:58:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.9.0","date":"2025-06-02T11:22:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.8.0","date":"2025-01-24T14:50:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.7.0","date":"2024-11-20T10:58:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.6.1","date":"2024-09-27T15:49:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.6.0","date":"2024-09-22T06:26:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.5.0","date":"2024-08-24T08:13:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.4.0","date":"2024-06-26T10:11:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.3.0","date":"2024-06-03T11:24:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.2.2","date":"2024-05-11T20:06:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/tag/v2.2.1","date":"2024-04-10T22:34:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.2.1"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.10.0","date":"2026-10-07T16:47:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.9.0","date":"2026-10-02T03:02:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.8.0","date":"2026-10-01T17:03:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.7.0","date":"2026-07-29T09:43:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.6.0","date":"2026-07-19T12:24:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.5.1","date":"2026-06-25T14:28:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.5.0","date":"2026-06-25T06:58:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.4.0","date":"2026-06-16T13:13:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.3.1","date":"2026-05-25T09:26:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.3.0","date":"2026-05-08T07:23:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.2.1","date":"2026-04-29T19:28:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.2.0","date":"2026-04-09T15:19:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.1.1","date":"2026-03-18T18:05:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.1.0","date":"2026-03-17T16:50:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v7.0.0","date":"2026-03-13T15:02:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v6.4.0","date":"2026-03-07T17:13:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v6.3.0","date":"2026-03-06T08:48:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v6.2.0","date":"2026-01-22T09:49:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v6.1.1","date":"2026-01-19T19:02:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter/releases/tag/v6.1.0","date":"2025-01-19T14:45:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.1.0"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 6.8 | 4.7 |
| security.trust_center | - | https://github.com/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=git-cliff&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=actions&package_name=release-drafter%2Frelease-drafter&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Changelog Tools)

| Capability | git-cliff | release-drafter |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Conventional commits support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Semver automation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public hosted page | - | - |
| Embeddable widget | - | - |
| Custom domain whitelabel | - | - |
| Audience segmentation | - | - |
| Monorepo support | - | - |
| Ci cd integration | - | ✓ |
| AI assisted drafting | - | - |
| View analytics | - | - |
| Open source self host | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T08:33:57.833Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*