Jenkins vs GitLab CI vs GitHub Actions vs Azure DevOps
A Comparison of CI/CD Tools That All Promise Happiness (In Different Fonts)
Choosing a CI/CD platform is a little like choosing a streaming service. They all claim to have everything you need. They all cost more than you expect. And once you commit, you discover quirks that feel deeply personal.
Let’s start with Jenkins, the elder statesman of CI/CD. Jenkins has been around long enough to have seen several architectural fashions come and go. It can do absolutely anything, provided you are willing to configure everything yourself and occasionally sacrifice a weekend to plugin compatibility. Jenkins is powerful, flexible, and endlessly customizable, which is another way of saying it will let you make decisions you later regret.
Jenkins thrives in environments where control is king. Want to run CI/CD on-prem, in the cloud, on a toaster, or in a forgotten VM from 2014? Jenkins is happy to help. The tradeoff is that you also own it. You patch it. You back it up. You explain why it broke. Jenkins does not babysit itself. It builds character.
GitLab CI enters with a more modern posture. Everything lives together. Source control, pipelines, runners, security scans, and artifacts all share the same ecosystem. This feels refreshing after years of gluing tools together manually. GitLab CI is opinionated, which can be comforting or frustrating depending on how much you enjoy opinions.
GitLab CI shines when you want consistency. Pipelines live as code in the repository. Runners are predictable. Security features are built in instead of bolted on. The downside is that GitLab wants to be the center of your universe. If you already live there, it feels natural. If you don’t, it feels like moving in with someone who has strong rules about where things go.
GitHub Actions feels like CI/CD finally moved into the house where the code already lives. There is something deeply satisfying about committing code and having automation respond immediately without additional tooling conversations. Workflows live alongside your code, versioned and reviewed like everything else. It feels clean and modern.
GitHub Actions is especially appealing for teams already using GitHub heavily. Setup is quick. Marketplace actions make common tasks feel almost too easy. The tradeoff is that YAML becomes your new dialect, and debugging workflows involves staring at logs wondering why indentation matters so much. GitHub Actions is friendly, but very literal.
Azure DevOps is the Swiss Army knife of the group. Pipelines, repos, boards, artifacts, test plans, and integrations with Azure services all live under one roof. For organizations invested in Microsoft ecosystems, Azure DevOps feels like a well-organized control center. Everything connects, and the permissions model means business.
Azure DevOps excels in enterprise environments where governance, traceability, and integration matter deeply. It handles complex pipelines, approvals, and compliance needs gracefully. The learning curve can feel heavier, and the UI occasionally reminds you that it was designed to be comprehensive, not minimalist. Azure DevOps assumes you are serious about process, and it behaves accordingly.
Comparing these tools is less about features and more about philosophy. Jenkins gives you freedom and responsibility. GitLab CI gives you structure and cohesion. GitHub Actions gives you convenience and speed. Azure DevOps gives you integration and control.
None of them magically fix broken processes. All of them will happily automate bad decisions faster than humans ever could. The best choice depends on where your code lives, how much control you want, and how much operational overhead you are willing to own.
The most experienced teams eventually realize that the tool matters less than how it is used. Clear pipelines, reliable tests, and shared ownership matter more than brand names. A great CI/CD culture can make any of these tools shine. A poor one will make all of them feel painful.
In the end, the best CI/CD platform is the one your team understands, trusts, and maintains without fear.
And the worst one is the one nobody wants to touch because “it works, don’t change it.”
Every team has met that one.