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CircleCI vs Jenkins

CircleCI is a hosted SaaS CI platform; Jenkins is self-hosted and extensible via plugins.

Which to pick

Pick CircleCI if you want…

  • AI-powered continuous integration
  • Hosted CI service
  • Integrations with GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket (on CircleCI's list, not Jenkins')

Pick Jenkins if you want…

  • Extensible CI/CD automation server
  • A free, open-source tool
  • Integrations with Java, Windows or Linux (on Jenkins' list, not CircleCI's)

Side by side

What it is
CircleCI:CircleCI is a CI/CD platform that automates building, testing, and deploying code with AI-enhanced automation.
Jenkins:Jenkins is an open-source automation server for building, testing and deploying software via CI/CD pipelines.
Best for
CircleCI:AI-powered continuous integration
Jenkins:Extensible CI/CD automation server
Who it’s for
CircleCI:Developers, platform engineers, security engineers, and engineering managers.
Jenkins:Developers and DevOps teams needing customizable CI/CD automation.
Pricing
CircleCI:Freemium
Jenkins:Open source
Plans
CircleCI:Free $0 per month · Performance $15 per month
Jenkins:—
Open source
CircleCI:—
Jenkins:Yes, 26,610 GitHub stars
Works with
CircleCI:GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, AWS, GCP, Kubernetes
Jenkins:Java, Windows, Linux, macOS, Unix

CircleCI features

  • Execution environments. Run jobs in Docker, Linux, Windows, macOS, Arm and GPU containers.
  • Build optimization. Layer caching and resource classes speed up builds and reduce compute usage.
  • Autoscaling. Automatically adds resources to handle peak workloads.
  • Technical services. Provides release management, rollback, and deployment orchestration.
  • Orbs registry. Reusable, shareable YAML packages for common CI tasks.

Jenkins features

  • Hundreds of plugins. Integrates with virtually any tool in the CI/CD toolchain through its plugin ecosystem.
  • Easy installation. Self-contained Java program with packages for Windows, Linux, macOS and Unix.
  • Web UI configuration. Set up and manage pipelines via a web interface with built-in help and error checks.
  • Distributed builds. Distribute work across multiple machines to speed up builds, tests and deployments.
  • Extensible architecture. Plugin-based design allows infinite customization and extension of functionality.
  • Community driven. Open-source project supported by a global community of contributors and users.

CircleCI vs Jenkins FAQ

Is CircleCI or Jenkins free?+

CircleCI has a free plan; paid plans start at $15/month (Performance). Jenkins is free and open source.

Which is cheaper, CircleCI or Jenkins?+

Jenkins is free, so it costs less. CircleCI starts at $15/month (Performance).

Is CircleCI or Jenkins open source?+

Jenkins is open source (jenkinsci/jenkins on GitHub, MIT license). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for CircleCI.

Do CircleCI and Jenkins integrate with the same tools?+

Their integration lists don't overlap: CircleCI lists GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, AWS and 2 more; Jenkins lists Java, Windows, Linux, macOS and 1 more.

On DevHunt

Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.