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Comparison · Infra & APIs

Jackett vs Depot

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Jackett and Depot — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Jackett vs Depot: at a glance

FeatureJackettDepot
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score5.07.5
Sparks · 30d02
Top themestorznab, indexer-definitions, scraper-maintenance, self-hostedci-cd, test-analytics, source-control, infrastructure
Last editorial update6h ago3h ago
WebsiteVisit →

What is Jackett?

A daily-shipping indexer proxy whose entire product is a scraper definition file that never stops rotting.

Jackett ships a tagged release essentially every day, and every one of them is the same shape: tracker selectors updated, domains bumped, categories added, dead sites removed. The release notes are auto-generated commit lists with no prose. The C# application itself is stable; what changes is the YAML definition corpus that keeps a few hundred torrent trackers reachable through a single Torznab endpoint.

Read the full Jackett trajectory →

What is Depot?

Depot is no longer a build accelerator — it is assembling the whole CI stack underneath itself.

In roughly a month Depot shipped its own source-control hosting in private beta, took test results to GA with timing-based sharding and org-wide flake analytics, moved CI and Sandboxes onto its own bare-metal compute platform, and filled in the GitHub Actions compatibility surface with stacked pull requests, three additional triggers, and Tailscale access to private networks. Sherlock's AI analysis now runs on any workflow or job, not just failed ones.

Read the full Depot trajectory →

Jackett vs Depot: editorial side-by-side

J
Jackett
INFRA · APIS
5.0

A daily-shipping indexer proxy whose entire product is a scraper definition file that never stops rotting.

◆ Current state

Jackett ships a tagged release essentially every day, and every one of them is the same shape: tracker selectors updated, domains bumped, categories added, dead sites removed. The release notes are auto-generated commit lists with no prose. The C# application itself is stable; what changes is the YAML definition corpus that keeps a few hundred torrent trackers reachable through a single Torznab endpoint.

◆ Where it's heading

This is maintenance-as-product, and the cadence is a symptom rather than a sign of momentum: trackers move domains, add anti-bot checks, and change markup, so the definitions decay continuously and the fix rate has to match. The visible trend across these releases is attrition — torr9, rockbox, rain, runtheframes, torrentleech-pl and elitetorrent-wf all removed in a single fortnight — partially offset by category expansion on the trackers that survive.

◆ Prediction

Expect the daily definition-churn cadence to continue unchanged, with the removal list growing faster than the addition list. Nothing in these entries indicates work on the application core.

D
Depot
INFRA · APIS
7.5

Depot is no longer a build accelerator — it is assembling the whole CI stack underneath itself.

◆ Current state

In roughly a month Depot shipped its own source-control hosting in private beta, took test results to GA with timing-based sharding and org-wide flake analytics, moved CI and Sandboxes onto its own bare-metal compute platform, and filled in the GitHub Actions compatibility surface with stacked pull requests, three additional triggers, and Tailscale access to private networks. Sherlock's AI analysis now runs on any workflow or job, not just failed ones.

◆ Where it's heading

The pattern is vertical integration: storage, compute, source control and test intelligence all being pulled in-house so Depot controls every tier. Test results is the first piece with its own metered price ($1 per million passing tests) rather than being folded into build minutes, which suggests the products are being built to stand alone. GitHub compatibility work continues because migration friction is the main thing standing between Depot and its target users.

◆ Prediction

Expect Depot Code to move from private beta toward general availability with Depot CI as its primary integration point, and expect GitHub Actions runners and container builds to complete the announced move onto Depot Metal.

Alternatives to Jackett and Depot

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Jackett or Depot.

See all Jackett alternatives → · See all Depot alternatives →

Recent activity from Jackett and Depot

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 14h agoJackettDefinition updates: magnetcat selectors, torrentavenue renamed
  2. 1d agoJackettDefinition updates: hdgalaktik and tmghub selectors, freeleech handling
  3. 1d agoDepotDepot CI now supports native GitHub stacked pull requests
  4. 2d agoJackettpornotorrent moves to native Torznab API, nethd adds TV support
  5. 3d agoJacketttorr9 removed, engine tags and domains refreshed
  6. 4d agoJackettThree trackers removed, btschool gains sort settings
  7. 5d agoJackettrockbox removed, TPB top100 selection becomes configurable
  8. 6d agoDepotTest results are now generally available
  9. 14d agoDepotAI analysis available for all Depot CI workflows and jobs
  10. 20d agoDepotSplit CI test suites with historical timing data (beta)
  11. 25d agoDepotDepot CI now supports Tailscale
  12. 26d agoDepotDepot Code is now available in private beta

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Jackett and Depot?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Depot is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 5.0), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Jackett better than Depot?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Depot is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 5.0), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Jackett?

Top Jackett alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Jackett alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/jackett for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Depot?

Top Depot alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Depot alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/depot for the full list with editorial commentary on each.