Jenkins alternatives

If you’ve ever managed a Jenkins server, you know the drill. It’s a constant cycle of updates, plugin conflicts, and performance tuning that can feel like a full-time job. It’s a powerful tool, no doubt, but many DevOps teams are starting to wonder if there’s a better way. They’re looking for modern Jenkins alternatives that are simpler, more scalable, and built for the way we work today.

That’s what this guide is all about. I’ll break down the top seven alternatives to Jenkins, comparing what they do well, how they’re hosted, and what they cost. The goal is to help you find the right fit for your team’s workflow in 2025.

What is Jenkins, really?

At its core, Jenkins is a free, open-source automation server that has been a DevOps staple for over a decade. It’s written in Java and helps teams automate the building, testing, and deploying of their software. It’s the engine behind a lot of continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines.

Its biggest strength is its massive ecosystem of over 1,800 plugins, which lets it connect to pretty much any tool you can think of. But as you’ll see, that strength is also the source of a lot of its headaches.

Why are so many teams looking for Jenkins alternatives?

While Jenkins can do almost anything, its age is starting to show. Teams often decide to move on for a few common reasons that just add friction and slow things down.

The maintenance is a real drag

Since Jenkins is self-hosted, your team is on the hook for everything: managing the server, applying security patches, and handling backups. This needs dedicated time and effort, and can easily become a major operational bottleneck.

Plugin management gets complicated

The heavy reliance on plugins can lead to what many affectionately call "plugin hell." Plugins get outdated, have dependency conflicts, or introduce security holes. It makes every upgrade feel like a risky, time-consuming project.

It wasn’t built for the cloud

Jenkins was designed before containers and Kubernetes were the norm. You can make it work for modern workflows, but it often requires some complex configurations and workarounds. It’s not container-native, and you can feel it.

The user experience is dated

Let’s be honest, the web interface can feel clunky and unintuitive compared to newer tools. This makes setting up and troubleshooting pipelines a pain, especially for new people joining the team.

Finding answers is a chore

Between complex "Jenkinsfile" scripts and documentation scattered all over the place, figuring out configuration issues can kill productivity. Engineers end up digging through old wikis or tapping a teammate on the shoulder, pulling them away from their own work.

How we chose the best Jenkins alternatives

To put this list together, I focused on what really matters to teams trying to improve their CI/CD pipelines. Each tool was judged on a few key things:

• Ease of Use: How quickly can you get started? Is the UI and pipeline configuration intuitive?

• Hosting Model: Is it a cloud service (SaaS), something you host yourself, or a mix of both?

• Key Features: Does it support modern practices like pipeline-as-code, containers, and running jobs in parallel?

• Integrations: How well does it play with popular code repositories and cloud platforms?

• Pricing: Is the pricing model clear and does it scale fairly as your team grows?

Quick comparison of the top Jenkins alternatives in 2025

Tool	Best For	Hosting Model	Key Feature	Pricing Model
GitHub Actions	Teams already using GitHub	SaaS & Self-hosted	Deep repository integration	Usage-based (free tier)
GitLab CI/CD	All-in-one DevOps platform	SaaS & Self-hosted	Integrated source control	Per-user (free tier)
CircleCI	Performance and speed	SaaS & Self-hosted	Fast parallel testing	Usage-based (free tier)
Azure Pipelines	Windows builds & Azure integration	SaaS & Self-hosted	Tight integration with Azure	Per-user/parallel job
TeamCity	Enterprise control and complexity	Self-hosted & SaaS	Powerful build configurations	Per-agent (free tier)
Buildkite	Security and flexibility	Hybrid (SaaS + Self-hosted)	Runs builds on your own infra	Per-user
Concourse CI	Open-source purists	Self-hosted	Abstract resources model	Free (open source)

The 7 best Jenkins alternatives for modern DevOps teams in 2025

Here’s a closer look at the top contenders that can help you move on from Jenkins.

1. GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions is the CI/CD platform built right into GitHub. It lets you kick off workflows based on any GitHub event, like a push or a pull request. Because it lives right next to your code, the experience is incredibly smooth for teams already on the platform. It just feels natural.

• Pros:

  • It’s already in GitHub, so there’s no need for a separate tool.

  • A huge marketplace of pre-built actions saves you from writing boilerplate code.

  • The free tier is quite generous for both public and private projects.

• Cons:

  • Costs can add up if you have a busy team and go over the free minutes.

  • For super complex, multi-stage deployments, a dedicated tool might offer more power.

• Pricing: You get 2,000 CI/CD minutes per month for free on private repositories (public repos are always free). The Team plan ($4/user/month) bumps that to 3,000 minutes, and the Enterprise plan ($21/user/month) gives you 50,000 minutes. After that, you pay per minute.

2. GitLab CI/CD

GitLab CI/CD is part of the broader GitLab platform, which aims to be a single application for the whole DevOps lifecycle. If you want one tool that handles source code, CI/CD, and monitoring, GitLab is a seriously powerful option.

The GitLab logo, representing one of the top Jenkins alternatives for an all-in-one DevOps platform.::

• Pros:

  • Everything is in one place, which cuts down on the number of tools you have to manage.

  • The ".gitlab-ci.yml" configuration is powerful but still pretty easy to pick up.

  • You can use their cloud service or host it on your own servers.

• Cons:

  • If you only need CI/CD, the all-in-one approach can feel a bit bloated.

  • Some of the more advanced features are only available on the pricier plans.

• Pricing: The free tier comes with 400 compute minutes per month. The Premium plan ($29/user/month) gives you 10,000 minutes, and the Ultimate plan includes 50,000 minutes but requires you to contact sales. You can buy extra minutes if you run out.

3. CircleCI

CircleCI is a cloud-native CI/CD tool that is obsessed with speed. Its main goal is to help you build and test fast. It uses smart caching, easy parallelism, and reusable configurations called "orbs" to make your pipelines fly.

• Pros:

  • Build times are often incredibly fast, perfect for teams that want quick feedback.

  • The user interface is clean and easy to follow.

  • It supports both cloud-hosted and self-hosted runners, giving you flexibility.

• Cons:

  • The usage-based pricing can make it hard to predict your monthly bill.

  • Debugging failed builds can sometimes be tricky in the cloud environment.

• Pricing: CircleCI uses a credit system. The Free plan gives you 6,000 build minutes (30,000 credits) a month for up to five users. The Performance plan starts at $15/month and includes those free credits plus another 25,000. For big teams, the Scale plan offers custom pricing.

4. Azure Pipelines

Part of the Azure DevOps family, Azure Pipelines is a cloud CI/CD service that can build, test, and deploy just about anything, anywhere. It has fantastic support for Windows, Linux, and macOS builds and is completely free for open-source projects.

• Pros:

  • If you’re in the Azure ecosystem, the integration is second to none.

  • It supports a huge range of languages and platforms.

  • You can create pipelines with YAML or a classic visual editor, which is nice for teams with mixed skill sets.

• Cons:

  • The user interface can feel a bit busy and take some time to learn.

  • It really shines brightest for teams already using Microsoft’s developer tools.

• Pricing: The free tier includes one Microsoft-hosted job with 1,800 minutes/month and one self-hosted job with unlimited minutes. An extra Microsoft-hosted parallel job is $40/month, and an extra self-hosted one is $15/month.

5. TeamCity

From the folks at JetBrains, TeamCity is a mature and powerful CI/CD server that works for teams of any size. It comes in both self-hosted and cloud versions, giving you a ton of control over your builds and deployments.

• Pros:

  • It’s much more user-friendly out of the box than Jenkins.

  • Features like "build chains" are great for managing complex projects without writing tons of script.

  • The integration with JetBrains IDEs (like IntelliJ) is, as you’d expect, excellent.

• Cons:

  • The free self-hosted version is limited to 100 build configurations and 3 build agents.

  • Running it yourself can take up a fair amount of server resources.

• Pricing: The self-hosted Professional license is free. For more capacity, the Enterprise license starts at $2,399 for the first year, plus extra for more build agents. The Cloud version starts at $15/month and scales with your usage.

6. Buildkite

Buildkite has a really interesting hybrid model. It gives you a slick, cloud-hosted platform for managing pipelines and viewing results, but the actual builds run on your own infrastructure using open-source agents. You get the best of both worlds: a great UI with the security of self-hosting.

• Pros:

  • Your source code never leaves your infrastructure, which is a big win for security.

  • You can scale to as many concurrent jobs as your infrastructure can handle.

  • The developer experience and user interface are top-notch.

• Cons:

  • You’re still responsible for managing the machines that run your build agents.

  • The per-user pricing model can get expensive for large teams.

• Pricing: After a 30-day free trial, the Pro plan costs $30 per active user/month. The Enterprise plan offers custom pricing for larger organizations.

7. Concourse CI

Concourse CI is an open-source tool that thinks about pipelines a bit differently. It’s built around three main ideas: tasks, jobs, and resources. Everything, from a Git repo to a Docker image, is a "resource." This makes pipelines feel more abstract and declarative, which can make them easier to understand at a glance.

• Pros:

  • It has a clean, declarative pipeline-as-code approach that encourages good habits.

  • It has a strong focus on security and running everything in containers.

  • It’s completely free and open source.

• Cons:

  • The abstract concepts can mean a steeper learning curve compared to other tools.

  • The community and plugin ecosystem are smaller than those for Jenkins or GitLab.

• Pricing: It’s free. You just pay for the infrastructure you run it on.

This video discusses various Jenkins alternatives and provides a framework to help you rank them based on your needs.

Beyond the tool: Managing CI/CD complexity

Switching from Jenkins to something more modern is a great move, but it won’t solve every problem. Your new tool will have its own YAML syntax, its own best practices, and its own quirks. The bigger challenge remains: how do your engineers find the information they need to actually build and manage these pipelines?

The answer probably isn’t another wiki page that will be outdated in six months. It’s about getting knowledge to your team right where they work.

Tame documentation with an AI knowledge assistant

Picture this: your DevOps team is moving to GitHub Actions, and an engineer hits a wall. Instead of digging through official docs, outdated Confluence pages, or bugging a senior dev, they just ask a question in Slack.

An eesel AI-powered assistant answering a question about GitHub Actions directly in Slack, showcasing an alternative to complex Jenkins documentation.::

An AI-powered assistant like eesel AI plugs into all your company’s knowledge, from Google Docs to Slack conversations and internal wikis. It acts like a single source of truth for your whole team. Your engineer could ask:

"What’s the right way to cache dependencies in our GitHub Actions workflow?"

In seconds, the AI gives them a clear, accurate answer pulled directly from your team’s own documentation. This kind of tool works alongside any CI/CD platform by making your whole team smarter and faster. It cuts down on wasted time and lets your senior engineers get back to focusing on bigger things.

Final thoughts on choosing Jenkins alternatives

Moving on from Jenkins is a big step, but it’s often the right one for teams who want to build software more effectively. The best Jenkins alternatives offer simpler setups, better performance, and a much nicer user experience.

Whether you go with the tight integration of GitHub Actions, the all-in-one approach of GitLab, or the hybrid security of Buildkite, the key is to find a tool that fits how your team works. And while you’re upgrading your tools, don’t forget to upgrade how you manage your team’s knowledge. Giving your engineers instant access to answers is just as important as the pipeline itself.

Ready to help your team get more done? As you upgrade your CI/CD, give them the gift of instant answers.

Try eesel AI’s internal chat for free and see how an AI assistant can make sense of your technical documentation.