DevOps

The Top 7 CI/CD Tools

Discover the top CI/CD pipeline tools renowned for their robust automation, integration capabilities, and streamlined delivery processes, enabling efficient Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery in software development workflows.

Last updated on Jun 25, 2024

Written by Alex Zawalnyski

Technical review by Laura Iannini

The Top 7 CI/CD Tools include:

1. AWS CodePipeline
2. Azure Pipeline
3. BitBucket
4. GitHub Actions
5. GitLab
6. Jenkins
7. TeamCity

Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines empower software development teams to deliver code changes more frequently and reliably, by ensuring that all tasks are completed in order before an update is launched. This enables development teams to identify and fix errors and bugs more quickly, making a strong CI/CD pipeline integral to any agile and responsive development process. CI/CD tools enable the automation, orchestration, and monitoring of core software development tasks across the CI/CD pipeline and integrate with a range of development, operations, and software testing platforms.

As the name suggests, there are two parts to a CI/CD tool: features that focus on continuous integration, and features that focus on continuous delivery. As part of the CI workload, CI/CD tools automatically validate check-ins against predefined rules and builds, then integrate them into the main repository. The CD workload takes over from there, ensuring that the integrated code is always in a deployable condition and facilitating rapid, repeatable releases.

As a developer, CI/CD tools help you spend less time on routine tasks (such as merging code, writing test scripts, debugging, and deploying environments), and more time on core development work. For teams, they help maintain seamless collaboration, ensuring that everyone is working with the most recent code base, and accelerating the cycle from development to deployment substantially.
With a multitude of cost-effective and scalable CI/CD tools on the market, this guide highlights the top CI/CD tools based on their effectiveness, efficiency, ease of use, and compatibility.

AWS CodePipeline

AWS CodePipeline is a fully controlled continuous delivery service, designed to automate release pipelines for quick and reliable updates to applications and infrastructures. The service eliminates the need for setting up or provisioning servers by allowing users to define the stages of a software release process via the AWS Management Console or AWS command line interface (CLI).

Key features of AWS CodePipeline include workflow modelling, parallel execution, AWS integrations, pre-built plugins, custom plugins, declarative templates, and an access control system. The workflow modelling provides a user-friendly interface to create and manage your pipeline, including various stages and actions. Through parallel execution, multiple build, test, and deployment actions can be conducted simultaneously to expedite workflow speeds.

AWS CodePipeline seamlessly integrates with several AWS services including AWS CodeCommit, AWS CodeBuild, and AWS CodeDeploy, which aid in various stages of the release process. The service also incorporates both pre-built plugins for third-party tools such as GitHub or Jenkins, and custom plugins that allow for unique system integrations.

Through declarative templates, users can define pipeline structures and make adjustments to existing pipelines. The access control feature of AWS CodePipeline uses AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to regulate who can modify or control the release workflow. In addition, Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) enables notifications for events affecting the pipelines, providing users with a status message and a link to the event source.

Azure Pipeline

Azure Pipelines is a continuous integration and delivery service that automates the build, test, and deploy phases of your software development lifecycle. This service supports a variety of programming languages, platforms, and software, including Node.js, Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, C/C++, .NET, Android, and iOS, allowing for simultaneous execution on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Azure Pipelines also incorporates containerization and Kubernetes, enabling seamless build and push operations to container registries like Docker Hub and Azure Container Registry. The tool caters to extensibility needs by offering a rich assortment of developer-built build, test, and deployment tasks, as well as hundreds of extensions ranging from Slack to SonarCloud.

Azure Pipelines runs with continuous delivery in mind, facilitating software deployment to any cloud network. Deployment visualization for multiple interdependent stages is also made possible. Azure Pipelines is open-source friendly, granting fast continuous integration/continuous delivery pipelines for every such project. Additionally, the service offers advanced features such as easy build chaining, multi-phased builds, support for YAML, test integration, and release reports.

Azure Pipelines is well-integrated with GitHub, assisting in the build, test, and deployment of every GitHub creation. With agents hosted on Linux, macOS, and Windows by Microsoft itself, Azure Pipelines simplifies hardware and VM management while providing full support for CI/CD pipelines for every major platform and tool.

BitBucket

BitBucket Cloud by Atlassian is known for providing powerful, automated workflows via its Pipelines functionality. BitBucket Cloud embeds continuous integration and delivery right next to your code, thereby eliminating the need for server management, repository synchronization, or user management configuration.

Setting up and managing BitBucket Cloud is a simple two-step process, featuring language-specific templates. Through configuration as code, it allows you to manage and configure your infrastructure to create robust, automated workflows. BitBucket Cloud offers unique features such as BitBucket Pipes and hybrid workflows, allowing connections to your own runners hosted behind the firewall or on a private cloud.

BitBucket Cloud is notable for its leading Jira integration which gives your team effective visibility into Jira build status, as well as any other issues that might arise. Other features offered by BitBucket Cloud include streamlined change management with Jira Service Management, deployment visibility, and the ability to tie code and deployments together. The platform also supports Slack to collaborate around your builds and deployments.

BitBucket Cloud caters to all teams, regardless of their platform preference – Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, or .NET Code. The branch structure can be easily aligned with the pipelines, simplifying the task of working with branching workflows such as feature branching or git-flow. All your build configurations can be stored and managed in a single bitbucket-pipelines.yml file.

GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions is a feature-rich tool that simplifies the automation of software workflows, offering an exceptional CI/CD approach. It streamlines various tasks such as coding, testing, and deployment directly from GitHub. It also offers customized solutions for code reviews, branch management, and issue resolution.

GitHub Actions allows workflows initiated by any GitHub event like “push”, issue creation, or even a new release. It makes workflows easier by optimizing interactions with services through community-built and maintenance actions. From building a container and deploying a web service, to automating the onboarding of new users to open-source projects, the potential applications are extensive. GitHub Actions can further pair with GitHub Packages to enhance package management, providing version updates, quicker distribution via global CDN, and dependency resolution with the existing GITHUB_TOKEN.

GitHub Actions offers hosted runners for several major operating systems, supporting the execution of projects either directly on a VM or inside a container – using clients’ own VMs, either in the cloud or on-premises, with self-hosted runners. Additionally, this tool supports a broad spectrum of programming languages including Node.js, Python, Java, Ruby, PHP, Go, Rust, and .NET. Other features include real-time workflow run tracking with color and emojis, secret store build-in, multi-container testing, and community-powered workflows, that help automate every step of the development workflow.

Importantly, GitHub Actions maximizes the utility of open-source libraries to help users create their own actions. Users are not confined to JavaScript, they can create a container action which can interact with the comprehensive GitHub API, as well as any other public API. GitHub action stands as a robust tool offering flexible, customized, and efficient workflow automation.

GitLab

GitLab is a unified tool that facilitates every phase of software pipeline, simplifying continuous integration and delivery. It allows businesses to construct, test, package, and securely deploy software swiftly and consistently, leading to an accelerated release. With GitLab, organizations can issue superior code regularly, with minimal intervention and excellent visibility, courtesy of a single-source truth to monitor the Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline.

GitLab’s integrated platform can standardize and scale, whilst remaining secure and predictable. It streamlines the transformation of your software development team by encouraging collaboration and delivering immediate feedback. This allows more time for creativity rather than manual, repetitive tasks. The platform empowers organizations to closely observe the entire software lifecycle, offering a comprehensive view of the CI/CD pipeline status.

The applicability of GitLab extends further by accelerating the development process and minimizing costs. The automated building, testing, packaging, and deploying of secure code from a committed code to production results in better code, quicker releases, fewer bugs, and more time dedicated to new features. The platform also accommodates AI collaboration at every stage of the software development lifecycle, including automated code reviews, security vulnerability explanations, and value stream forecasts. With the built-in CI/CD pipeline templates and flexible pipelines, GitLab caters to multiple infrastructures ranging from virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters or FaaS from any cloud vendors and supports the likes of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, or in-house private cloud.

Jenkins

Jenkins is a leading open-source automation server developed to support CI and CD, including the building, deployment, and automation of any project, regardless of its scale. With its array of plugins, Jenkins can function as either a simple CI server or the central hub for the continuous delivery of any project. Known for its flexible approach to installation, Jenkins is a Java-based, self-contained program, capable of running across multiple operating systems.

Jenkins distinguishes itself with its user-friendly configuration. The web interface, complete with real-time error checks and built-in help functions, ensures a smooth and straightforward setup process. Coupled with an update system that delivers hundreds of plugins, Jenkins integrates seamlessly with every tool in the CI and CD toolchain.

Fundamental to Jenkins’s effectiveness is its extensibility. The server can be tailored to any project through its plugin architecture, offering near limitless possibilities for its utilization. In addition, Jenkins efficiently distributes work across multiple machines, thus accelerating the completion of builds, testing, and deployments across various platforms.

Finally, Jenkins stands out due to its production of continuous delivery pipelines. These pipelines are automated expressions of the process that software undertakes from version control to reaching the end-user. This process involves not just building the software in a reliable manner, but also testing it and deploying it across multiple stages. Through treating the CD pipeline as a part of the application, Jenkins establishes a “Pipeline-as-code”, creating a single and shared source of truth for the pipeline.

TeamCity

TeamCity is a comprehensive Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) platform designed to support and streamline the DevOps processes of any team. It offers advanced integration capabilities with building and testing tools, shedding detailed light on DevOps pipelines and bolstering productivity.

One of the main advantages that distinguishes TeamCity is its user-friendly approach to getting started. A clear and simple user interface facilitates the creation of your first pipeline in less than two minutes, with no initial coding requirement. In addition, it provides a unique understanding of tests and works seamlessly with respective build and test tools, keeps a historical account of tests, identifies unstable tests, and targets exact fail-provoking commits.

TeamCity provides real-time reporting, ensuring that you do not have to wait until a build is complete to identify issues. Such proactive reporting means you can work out problems, assign them to team members, or even directly address the issue in an IDE at the problem line of code. The platform also offers remote run and pre-tested commit, configuration as code, and pipeline optimization. It supports all programming languages and various popular tools used for building and testing software.

As your projects grow, TeamCity makes it easier to manage pipeline configurations through its web user interface or using a strongly typed Domain Specific Language (DSL). Reusing pipelines and maintaining control of them as your projects scale becomes more manageable, and you can also extract build configuration templates to avoid setting up CI/CD pipelines from scratch for each new project. The platform is accessible via a RESTful API, which further expands its utility by allowing integrations with other applications or scripts.

Everything You Need To Know About CI/CD Pipelines (FAQs)

What Are CI/CD Pipelines?

CI/CD pipelines are lists of tasks and actions that need to be completed in order to carry out an effective and efficient software update. An effective CI/CD pipeline will ensure that all necessary tasks are completed before launching a new update. This allows you to reduce the need for rollbacks while software bugs and glitches are identified and fixed, which, in turn, takes much of the stress out of software development and makes it more effective.

What Are CI/CD Tools?

CI/CD tools can automate many of the processes (such as code integration) involved in a CI/CD pipeline, resulting in a reduced human workload, whilst ensuring consistent outcomes. This automation allows DevOps teams to spend more time on complex tasks, meaning that they can innovate and develop more.

CI/CD tools have capabilities that allow them to streamline the development phase, as well as carry out robust testing, and ongoing monitoring. These comprehensive features ensure that your processes are as robust and efficient as they can be. This allows you to develop and roll out software updates with ease, meaning that they can be made more regularly, thereby enhancing your overall software offering.

How Can CI/CD Tools Achieve?

There are four stages to a CI/CD pipeline: sourcing, building, testing, and deployment. CI/CD tools help automate and orchestrate each of these stages as follows.

Sourcing – This is the first, foundational stage of a CI/CD pipeline. This stores source code, with versioning and history logged. As new code is developed it will be assessed by the CI/CD tool.
Building – Once all new code has been written, it will be compiled into a final, complete product. This will involve merging code that has been developed by multiple software engineers, ensuring that this results in an executable program.
Testing – With a complete software product, the CI/CD tool will run the software to identify any flaws or issues. It may be that a critical area of code has been overlooked by different developers. This stage is important to ensure that you do not deliver an ineffective or incomplete product. The more testing you do, the less damage limitation you are likely to do.
Deployment – Once you are sure that any bugs have been fixed, you can release your software into the production environment, allowing users to access it. Depending on the scale of your alterations and the function of the software, this process may be done in stages. It is also during this process that you may need to roll back your software. This means that you restore it to a previous version that you know functions effectively.

What Features Should You Look For In CI/CD Tool?

When selecting a CI/CD tool, Expert Insights recommends considering the following features:

Version Control Integration – As you may have multiple developers working on and editing the same piece of code, you need to ensure you know which one is the most recent version and that developers have access to that up-to-date copy.
Automation – When it comes to compiling and unifying the code, you want to have this process as automated as possible. This automation should extend to testing and deployment too.
Pipeline Orchestration – You should have the ability to oversee and modify the development pipeline, ensuring that it is optimized for the way you work, your timescales, and the product you want to deliver.
Third-Party Integration – You should be able to integrate additional tools within your workflow. These might include issue trackers, code review software, editing, and collaboration platforms.
Reports – This is particularly useful in the testing phase; however, it is relevant across the entire CI/CD lifecycle. Your platform should deliver reports and key metrics to update you on current processes and potential holdups.
Extensibility – Your platform needs to have the capacity to scale as you include more plugins, extensions, and scripts, ensuring that you can create the most effective and comprehensive software.

Alex Zawalnyski

Journalist & Content Editor

Alex is an experienced journalist and content editor. He researches, writes, factchecks and edits articles relating to B2B cyber security and technology solutions, working alongside software experts. Alex was awarded a First Class MA (Hons) in English and Scottish Literature by the University of Edinburgh.

Laura Iannini

Cybersecurity Analyst

Laura Iannini is an Information Security Engineer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from the University of West Florida. Laura has experience with a variety of cybersecurity platforms and leads technical reviews of leading solutions. She conducts thorough product tests to ensure that Expert Insights’ reviews are definitive and insightful.