Continuous Integration (CI) automates the process of building and testing software projects. It lets changes merge into your codebase as soon as they’re ready, without making developers run complex manual tasks. This improves DevOps lifecycle performance and reliability.
In this round-up, we’ll examine 15 of the top continuous integration tools of this year. Some are popular all-rounders, whereas others offer unique capabilities for specific use cases. We’ll explain each tool’s features so you can make an informed decision about which is best for your project and team.
What is a continuous integration (CI) tool?
A continuous integration (CI) tool automates the process of merging and testing code changes in a shared repository. It helps detect integration issues early by running automated builds and tests every time developers push code.
CI tools connect to your source repositories to run build, test, and delivery jobs whenever code changes. If a job fails, they provide immediate feedback, allowing you to easily implement continuous integration pipelines in your workflows.
Continuous Integration (CI) tools provide a platform for building CI pipelines. Many tools can also be used for continuous delivery (CD) and deployment tasks, so they’re often described as CI/CD solutions.
A good CI/CD tool should support the needs of everyone involved in your software projects. It must be quick and easy for DevOps teams to configure secure pipelines, while developers require direct access to pipeline results. Many solutions also provide vital data to business leaders by collecting DevOps lifecycle metrics.
Top features to look for in CI tools include:
- Simple and expressive pipeline configuration syntax
- Robust job parallelization options
- Easy access to pipelines logs and artifacts, such as through integrations with developer IDEs and terminals
- Ability to modularize and reuse pipeline components
- Access to a marketplace of prebuilt configs for common pipeline tasks
- Built-in artifact storage for generated binaries, container images, and other job outputs
- Job isolation, security, and compliance capabilities
You should also consider which types of workflow your CI solution is built for.
Most traditional CI tools are designed for application pipelines, where source code has to be tested, built, and released. They can be difficult to use for other types of processes, such as infrastructure pipelines that run stateful IaC tools.
In comparison, IaC-specific platforms like Spacelift provide a focused infrastructure management experience, but can’t be used for app-oriented tasks.
Let’s check out some of the top CI tools to use in your DevOps workflows. Whether you’re building source code, deploying infrastructure, or managing serverless apps, we’ve got you covered.
The list of the best continuous integration tools includes:
- Spacelift
- GitHub Actions
- GitLab CI/CD
- Bitbucket Pipelines
- Atlassian Bamboo
- JetBrains TeamCity
- Azure Pipelines
- AWS CodePipeline
- Google Cloud Build
- Jenkins
- CircleCI
- Travis CI
- CloudBees CodeShip
- Buddy
- Semaphore
Nonetheless, this isn’t an exhaustive list, so don’t worry if you can’t find a perfect fit. There are plenty more tools available in the busy CI/CD space.
Spacelift is a CI/CD solution specifically designed for infrastructure automation. It uses a GitOps strategy to connect to your IaC repositories and automatically runs tools like Terraform and Pulumi as you add new commits. Spacelift integrates with the IAM services in AWS, Azure, and GCP to dynamically generate temporary credentials that keep your infrastructure secure.
Spacelift also lets you visualize your provisioned resources using a single centralized interface. With policy-as-code guardrails, you can enforce precise security, compliance, and access requirements, while self-service Blueprints let developers quickly spin up new infrastructure on demand. These features unlock more effective infrastructure management processes that scale throughout the DevOps lifecycle.
Key Spacelift features
- Automates running IaC tools as you commit to your repositories
- Provision, configure, and govern infrastructure in one place
- Supports Policy-as-Code to enforce security and compliance requirements
- Built-in drift detection capabilities find and fix infrastructure misconfigurations
- Integrated Terraform state management and module registry
Price: Free tier available; paid subscription for additional features
Website: https://spacelift.io
Use case example: How to improve your infrastructure orchestration with Spacelift
When you shift to treating infrastructure like a software project, you need all the components a software project has. That means having a CI/CD platform in place, and most aren’t suited to the demands of IaC. Insurtech company Kin discovered that Spacelift was purpose-built to fill that gap.
GitHub Actions is a continuous integration service included with GitHub projects. It’s an easy way to start building CI pipelines without adding any extra platforms to your workflow.
GitHub Actions is often considered the best CI tool for small teams, especially if they already use GitHub.
GitHub Actions pipelines are highly modular, so it’s easy to reuse configurations across different projects and teams. You can compose pipelines from prebuilt actions that you can customize using parameter inputs.
The GitHub Marketplace offers a large selection of community-contributed actions.
Key GitHub Actions features
- Convenient for existing GitHub projects
- Composable pipeline architecture
- Community library of prebuilt pipeline components
- General-purpose tool that can be customized for many different use cases
- Supports hosted and self-managed job runners
Price/License: Free for public repositories; paid plans for private repositories
Website: https://github.com/features/actions
Use case example: How to manage and scale Terraform with GitHub Actions
GitLab CI/CD is a popular CI solution that’s deeply integrated with GitLab’s DevOps platform. Its features include native Kubernetes GitOps deployments via Flux CD and prebuilt templates that automatically test and scan your code.
GitLab CI/CD pipelines support several different mechanisms for modularizing jobs. You can import configs from other projects, or use the new GitLab CI/CD Catalog to publish reusable components within your organization.
The whole platform can also be self-hosted on your own infrastructure, giving you complete control over job execution and sensitive data like CI/CD variables.
Key GitLab CI/CD features
- Open-core solution with self-hosting support
- Deep integration with other GitLab DevOps features
- Supports automated SAST and vulnerability scans
- Robust compliance controls to enforce job requirements
- Versatile pipeline execution options
Price: Free tier available; paid plans for enhanced features
Website: https://about.gitlab.com/
Use case example: How to manage Terraform state with GitLab
Bitbucket Pipelines is a continuous integration system for Bitbucket Cloud users. It’s particularly powerful when used alongside other Atlassian solutions: You can display pipeline statuses in tools like Jira and Confluence to keep team members informed of CI activity.
Bitbucket Pipelines is designed to simplify CI setup tasks, including integration with popular third-party DevOps services. Its Pipes feature provides out-of-the-box support for over 100 platforms, including monitoring suites, scanning tools, and incident management solutions.
Key Bitbucket Pipelines features
- Over 100 built-in integrations
- Connects to other Atlassian services
- Supports versatile pipeline templates
- Governance capabilities to continually enforce CI policies
- Unlimited concurrent pipeline runs
Price: Free tier available; paid plans offer increased user limits and advanced features
Website: https://bitbucket.org/product/
Bamboo is another tool from the Atlassian stable. It’s now only available in the self-managed Data Center flavor. The platform’s aimed at enterprise users who want to operate their own CI infrastructure.
Bamboo Data Center offers complete control of your environment, potentially improving scalability, compliance, and operational resilience. It integrates well with other Atlassian tools, including Bitbucket and Jira, but can also be used with repositories hosted in external source control platforms.
Key Atlassian Bamboo features
- Self-hosted enterprise-grade platform
- Automates continuous delivery workflows with Docker and AWS CodeDeploy
- Designed for high availability and scalability
- Supports up to 2,000+ build agents
- Integrates with Bitbucket and Jira
Price: Commercial license with per-agent pricing
TeamCity is a CI/CD solution from JetBrains, also known for its popular desktop IDE solutions. TeamCity is deeply integrated with those IDEs, so you can easily monitor build progress, get test results, and debug problems without having to switch between apps.
TeamCity is also designed to maximize build efficiency. It automatically optimizes when pipelines run to reduce waste and speed up your builds. Unnecessary steps are skipped automatically based on the results of previous runs, so developers get meaningful feedback faster.
Key JetBrains TeamCity features
- Excellent integration with JetBrains IDEs
- Highly scalable with unlimited concurrency
- Available as a cloud-hosted or self-managed platform
- Self-optimizing pipelines improve efficiency with minimal configuration
- Supports complex pipeline relationships with nested dependencies and triggers
Pricing/License: Free tier available; paid plans for additional features
Website: https://www.jetbrains.com/teamcity
Azure Pipelines is the CI/CD tool bundled with Microsoft’s Azure DevOps suite of services. It includes powerful features for managing workflows using chained builds, multi-phase rollouts, and feature gates. This makes it simple to move code from repositories to live environments, whether in Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, or a serverless platform.
Azure Pipelines is supported by an active ecosystem of community-maintained pipeline components that make it easier to get started. It’s also backed by the security, compliance, and access management capabilities of the Azure platform, making it a popular choice for enterprises operating at scale.
Key Azure Pipelines features
- Designed to unify integration, delivery, and deployment tasks
- Advanced deployment features include multi-phase rollouts and feature gates
- Cloud-agnostic (doesn’t assume use of other Azure services)
- Cross-platform Microsoft-hosted or self-managed build agents
- Native support for container workflows and Kubernetes
Price/license: Free tier available; paid plans for additional features
Website: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/products/devops/pipelines
Use case example: Azure Pipelines Tutorial
AWS CodePipeline is a managed CI/CD service available as part of the broader AWS platform. It’s designed to seamlessly integrate with other AWS services, including CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and Fargate. It also connects to AWS IAM, so you can centrally manage pipeline access controls.
CodePipeline pipelines are configured using declarative JSON files. A wide variety of plugins provide prebuilt workflows for common use cases, making it easy to get up and running.
If you need more control, then you can run AWS Lambda functions during any pipeline stage to implement more complex processes.
Key AWS CodePipeline features
- Seamless integration with other AWS services
- Fully automated pipelines for the most common build and deployment workflows
- Billed as part of AWS, but includes one free pipeline per month
- Supports management using the AWS Console or CLI
- Powerful access controls based on AWS IAM policies
Price/license: Pay-as-you-go; pricing based on usage
Website: https://aws.amazon.com/codepipeline
Google Cloud Build is Google’s fully managed serverless CI/CD platform. The service integrates with other Google Cloud products, including App Engine, Cloud Run, and Cloud Functions, to automate your code integration and delivery processes.
You can use Cloud Build to build your source code, run tests, and then launch deployments into Google Cloud. The infrastructure is managed for you with 15 different available machine types, so it’s easy to scale up as your projects grow.
Key Google Cloud Build features
- Tight integration with the Google Cloud platform
- 2,500 free build minutes per month
- No infrastructure configuration required
- Wide selection of build agent hardware types to choose from
- Built-in supply chain management features, including container image vulnerability scans
Price: Free tier available; pay-as-you-go pricing based on build minutes and machine type
Website: https://cloud.google.com/build
Jenkins is one of the oldest and best-known CI/CD solutions. It’s a general-purpose self-hosted automation server that can implement any kind of software delivery process. It has proven to be versatile and reliable, but it can be more complex to set up than modern managed platforms.
Jenkins pipelines are written in the Groovy scripting language. They offer robust concurrency options and are easy to scale across distributed compute instances.
Jenkins also integrates with popular Git hosting platforms, cloud providers, and serverless platforms via its large ecosystem of community plugins.
Key Jenkins features
- Self-hosted open-source system
- Huge plugin ecosystem
- Proven resiliency at scale
- Robust distributed build support
- Versatile architecture is adaptable to many different pipeline types
Price/License: Free (open-source); costs depend on self-hosting infrastructure and maintenance
Website: https://www.jenkins.io/
Use case example: How to Manage Terraform with Jenkins
CircleCI is a continuous integration platform designed to simplify DevOps build, test, and deployment processes at scale. It automates the key stages of the software delivery lifecycle while providing clear visibility into job activity, triggers, and failures.
CircleCI connects to your Git repositories in services including GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. Builds run either in the cloud or on self-hosted agents within your own infrastructure.
Many different pipeline concurrency and execution options are supported, including parallel, sequential, and matrix builds.
Key CircleCI features
- Designed for speed and flexibility
- Good scalability and various concurrency options
- Supports modular pipeline config packages
- Enterprise plan includes compliance policies and SSO
- Available as a cloud-hosted platform with a free plan, or self-hosted for private cloud
Price: Free tier available; paid plans with more build minutes, concurrency, and advanced support
Website: https://circleci.com/
Travis CI is a popular CI solution that focuses on simplicity. Its YAML-based pipeline syntax is much more compact than other solutions. This means it’s easier to learn, letting you configure reliable pipelines with less effort.
Travis CI also features strong security and compliance capabilities. For instance, native integration with Hashicorp Vault lets you safely configure pipeline credentials. Similarly, robust supply chain integrity controls allow you to easily sign pipeline artifacts or generate an SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) for your builds.
Key Travis CI features
- Supports parallel and matrix builds
- Simple config syntax designed for readability
- Integrates with Hashicorp Vault for secrets management
- Up to 300 concurrent cloud builds
- Includes supply chain management capabilities
Price: Free tier for open-source projects; paid plans required for private repositories and enterprise features
Website: https://www.travis-ci.com
CloudBees CodeShip is a CI/CD platform delivered as a cloud SaaS solution. It offers a guided experience designed to facilitate the quick implementation of continuous integration processes for various app types. CodeShip strongly prioritizes developer needs to help maximize productivity throughout the DevOps lifecycle.
CodeShip integrates with major Git hosting platforms, cloud providers, and DevOps services. Your builds run on dedicated AWS instances to ensure predictable performance and avoid the security risks of shared infrastructure.
CodeShip Pro adds more project management and monitoring capabilities, including centralized dashboards that provide convenient project health visualizations.
Key CloudBees CodeShip features
- Builds run on dedicated AWS instances
- Project dashboards offer high-level health overviews
- Developer-oriented platform
- A variety of job concurrency options
- Versatile third-party service integration options
Price: Paid plans with scalable concurrency and parallelism options
Buddy is a suite of DevOps and platform engineering tools designed to automate the software delivery process. It focuses heavily on deployment pipelines but can also be used for integration tasks such as code tests and builds.
You can trigger pipelines based on various events, including those from platforms like GitHub, AWS, and Slack.
Buddy pipelines are configured using YAML files or via the platform’s clear visual editor. The service supports concurrent pipelines, matrix builds, and orchestrated platforms across thousands of distributed targets. Buddy also connects to OIDC providers and includes a built-in secrets store.
Key Buddy features
- Versatile platform for automating DevOps workflows
- Flexible pipeline triggers based on external events
- Orchestrates deployments across multiple environments
- One platform for all DevOps and Platform Engineering delivery tasks
- Built-in secrets store secures pipeline credentials
Price/license: Free tier available; paid plans for additional features
Website: https://buddy.works
Semaphore is an open-source CI/CD system ready to self-host on your own infrastructure. It’s a developer-friendly solution designed for speed and ease of use. The platform includes a visual editor that lets you efficiently configure your pipelines while writing less YAML.
Semaphore also strongly emphasizes pipeline reliability.
For instance, a flaky test dashboard helps you identify test cases that need improvement. This guides you towards making targeted pipeline optimizations that save time and give developers more actionable results. Similarly, Semaphore’s monorepo features ensure only relevant pipeline stages run, based on the microservices to which each commit changes.
Key Semaphore Features
- Fully open-source solution
- Visual pipeline editor
- Dashboards highlight test failures and flakiness
- Optimized monorepo features prevent waste at scale
- Supports SSO, OpenID, and audit trails for compliance
Price/license: Free tier available; paid plans for additional features
Website: https://semaphoreci.com
Continuous integration (CI) tools simplify implementing continuous integration processes within the DevOps lifecycle. They allow you to automate crucial code delivery tasks such as running tests, building artifacts, and preparing deployments. Replacing manual workflows with CI-driven automation makes the DevOps lifecycle safer, faster, and more scalable.
We’ve covered 15 of the most popular CI tools, but you shouldn’t restrict yourself to picking only one. Many teams benefit from using multiple CI solutions for different use cases.
For instance, you might choose GitHub Actions for your application pipelines and use a purpose-built IaC orchestration platform like Spacelift to optimize your infrastructure management processes.
The best infrastructure automation tool
Spacelift is a DevOps infrastructure automation tool that can be used as an alternative to homegrown solutions on top of a generic CI solution. It allows you to automate, audit, secure, and continuously deliver your infrastructure.
