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Are you aware of the DevOps approach? If yes, you might know that this modern methodology believes in “quality at speed” in the software development industry. There is no doubt that DevOps practices accelerate the delivery and ensure high quality of software products or applications. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery are the backbone of the DevOps approach because CI//CD is responsible for reliable and quick delivery.
Nowadays, plenty of CI/CD tools are available in the market, leading to the problem of selecting the right tools. To solve this problem and provide knowledge, we have prepared a list of the top ten CI/CD tools so that you can pick the appropriate choice and learn the key features of these tools.
What are CI/CD Tools?
CI/CD tools are software applications that automate the steps involved in integrating code changes, testing, and deploying software. Continuous Integration (CI) is about merging code changes from many developers into a shared repository. Once there, automated tests can run as soon as possible to find any problems early. Continuous Delivery (CD) takes the process much further by automating deployment.
Code changes can thus be released to production quickly and reliably. Together, CI/CD tools help teams eliminate the errors and labour involved in manual work, improve code quality, and speed up the release cycle for software.
Top 10 CI/CD Tools
Let’s now check the CI/CD tools list that can make your DevOps journey simple.
1. Jenkins
Jenkins is a popular and commonly used open-source CI/CD tool that is available in the market. It has a self-contained Java-based program that offers packages for macOS, Windows, Linux and Unix-like operating systems. Jenkins is highly flexible and it has several plugins that will help you customize the pipeline that fit any software development requirement.
Jenkins key features:
- Easy to Customize: Jenkins offers 1500+ plugins to support deploying, building and automating the project.
- Good Community Support: This tool is often used by an active and large community of developers, which proves its reliability and authenticity.
- Effortless Integration: Jenkins provides easy integration that can work with multiple platforms.
Website: https://jenkins.io/
2. TeamCity
TeamCity is the tool offered by JetBrains. There is no doubt in saying that this continuous integration tool is well known for its deep integration with IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA. This tool gives quick feedback on any code change, prevents issues with integrating different pieces of the software and enforces more efficient teamwork. TeamCity is used to build many of the world’s most common games, sites, banking systems and all JetBrains products.
TeamCity key features:
- Great IDE Integration: Integrates smoothly with JetBrains IDEs, improving the development workflow.
- Real-Time Build Monitoring: Get fast feedback on build progress and issues.
- Build History Tracking: Tracks and compares build histories, making it easier to identify faults.
Website: https://www.jetbrains.com/teamcity/
3. Circle CI
Circle CI is a renowned cloud-based CI/CD tool that is popular in the market for its simplicity and speed. The design of this tool will help you automate the deployment and testing of the code quickly and efficiently.
CircleCI can be connected with GitHub, GitHub Enterprise and Bitbucket to generate builds when new code lines are committed. CircleCI has two hosting options: one that allows for continuous cloud-based integration and the other installed behind a firewall in private corporate servers.
CircleCI key features:
- Fast Performance: Optimized for speed, allowing for speedy development and feedback.
- Easy Setup: It is simple to set up with a short learning curve, making it suitable for teams of any size.
- Scalable: Adapts to your project, whether you’re a small team or a massive business.
Website: https://circleci.com/
4. Bamboo
Bamboo is the famous CI server tool offered by the tech giant Atlassian. This tool can easily integrate with other Atlassian products like Bitbucket and JIRA. It is an ideal choice for those developers who are already using the Atlassian ecosystem.
This tool is useful to support functional testing, release tagging, and deployment. It automated the process of software application release resulting in a continuous delivery pipeline.
Bamboo key features:
- Strong Atlassian Integration: Integrates smoothly with JIRA, Bitbucket, and other Atlassian products.
- Automated Merging: Merges branches automatically, saving time on complex projects.
- Parallel Builds: Allows you to perform multiple builds at the same time, which speeds up the development process.
Website: https://www.atlassian.com/software/bamboo
5. GitLab
GitLab is a broader platform that also offers CI/CD tools to provide an integrated experience from code management to deployment. This tool is perfect for developer teams that are looking for an all-in-one development solution.
GitLab key features:
- Built-in with GitLab: CI/CD is fully integrated with GitLab, providing a streamlined development workflow.
- Auto DevOps: Automatically configures the CI/CD pipeline, making it simple to get started.
- Comprehensive Metrics: Delivers detailed insights and metrics throughout the development and deployment processes.
Website: https://about.gitlab.com/
6. Travis CI
Travis CI is also a cloud-based CI tool that is extremely popular with open source projects. It helps to test and build the projects, where it detects the submission of new commits automatically. This tool can integrate directly with GitHub, which makes it a go-to platform for multiple GitHub users. It supports several languages like Node, PHP, Python, Java, and Perl.
Travis CI key features:
- Integrated with GitHub: Travis CI can directly work with GitHub and it automatically triggers the build on the code commits.
- Free for Open Source Projects: It offers free CI/CD services for open-source projects that make it accessible for smaller teams.
- Simple Configuration: It uses straightforward and simple YAML configuration file to define the build pipeline.
Website: https://travis-ci.com
7. Buddy
Buddy is a user-friendly CI/CD tool that is specifically designed to provide simplicity and ease of use to its users. It is actually a great tool for Git developers who want to automate the deployment process with minimum problems. This tool helps to build an environment for the DevOps approach that monitors which actions should be taken. Also, it is useful to build, deploy and test the web application with code from BitBucket, GitLab and GitHub.
Buddy key features:
- Intuitive Interface: Create pipelines using a simple drag-and-drop interface.
- Pre-Built Actions: Includes over 100 pre-configured actions to help you automate your CI/CD workflow rapidly.
- Real-Time Feedback: Allows for immediate feedback on builds and deployments, assisting in the early detection of issues.
Website: https://buddy.works/
8. GoCD
GoCD is an open-source CI/CD tool that helps to manage complex build pipelines. The focus of this tool is to enable continuous delivery. It provides several powerful features for visualizing complex workflows and modelling.
GoCD key features:
- Pipeline Visualization: Provides detailed views of your pipelines, allowing you to better understand and optimize workflows.
- Value Stream Mapping: This allows you to visualize and enhance the whole software delivery process.
- Open-Source Flexibility: Because it is open source, it can be easily customized to meet individual requirements.
Website: https://www.gocd.org/
9. Codeship
CloudBees offers Codeship, a cloud-based CI/CD technology that is both simple and effective for continuous delivery. It’s intended to help teams deploy code more frequently and confidently.
Codeship key features:
- Cloud-Based: There is no need for on-premises servers; everything operates in the cloud.
- Speedy Setup: With pre-configured environments, you can get started quickly.
- Docker Support: Fully supports Docker, making it an excellent solution for modern containerized applications.
Website: https://codeship.com/
10. Semaphore
Semaphore is an effective CI/CD tool for testing and deploying software projects. With a pull request-based development process, Semaphore is the standard for quality control (a working economy). It’s intended to help teams automate their pipelines and produce code more quickly.
Semaphore key features:
- Lightning-Fast Builds: Our builds are optimized for speed, with some of the shortest build times in the market.
- Easy Parallelization: Run parallel jobs to accelerate your testing and deployment operations.
- Auto-Scaling: Scales resources based on your requirements, assuring efficiency without user intervention.
- Integrated with GitHub
- Automates any continuous delivery pipeline
Website: https://semaphoreci.com/
Summing Up
This list contains the most popular CI/CD tools currently trending in the industry. We hope this list has given you enough information to pick software that fits your requirements. The tools mentioned above are kind of mature and have essential capabilities for your project.
Once you have decided exactly which tools are right for you, your requirements and its infrastructure, as well as future potential will be the factors that affect the final decision you make.
