Top 10 Best CI/CD Tools for 2021

Published on
31/08/2021 10:16 AM

In the realm of software development, the question, "What is a Continuous Integration tool and what benefits can it bring to me?" is on the tip of many tongues. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery tools, otherwise known as CI/CD solutions, have changed the code deployment world on an incredible scale. These SaaS solutions reliably accelerate the delivery of software-as-a-service solutions by helping companies to become more agile. CI/CD offerings automate the software development process and reduce delivery time significantly. 

To leverage the full benefits of CI/CD software, companies need access to the tools that will unlock the major features of the technology. Today, we’re going to be examining some of the most popular CI/CD tools in the market for 2021.

Bamboo

Popular, flexible, and versatile, Bamboo is the CI/CD solution created by the Atlassian team, with plenty of developer community support. The server of choice for all kinds of integration, deployment, and delivery requirements, Bamboo is a powerful tool for any business. You can create automated builds and tie them together with test and release processes in a single unified workflow. 

Bamboo is wonderfully versatile, and capable of supporting various version control systems. You can support up to 100 build agents in the same environment, create simple triggers and multi-stage pipelines, and integrate your experience with more than 150 apps from a diverse marketplace. The environment also comes with the option to automatically apply continuous integration by identifying new branch opportunities.

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Jenkins

Perhaps the best-known CI/CD solution on the market today, Jenkins is an open-source software solution designed for continuous delivery and integration. Written in Java, the solution comes with support for building, testing, and deployment. There are even version control systems like Git to explore, and massive support for external plugins. 

Jenkins provides companies with the support they need to scale outwards and upwards, distributing workloads to a large number of nodes. You can easily update the technology with all OS versions, and installing Jenkins is quick and simple too. Additional features include sensational community support, and real-time reporting for constant innovation.

Azure DevOps

Designed to provide companies with a host of development and DevOps tools in one environment, Azure DevOps comes with everything you need to innovate. Within the portfolio is the Azure Pipelines solution, which handles the CI/CD pipeline with straightforward and convenient functionality. The service comes with tons of helpful tools like Repos and Boards, and it can connect to your GitHub Repo too. 

With Azure DevOps, users can easily access a host of templates for multiple agile types and unlock customised reporting. The whole system also integrates wonderfully with the Azure cloud, making it a good choice for those already in the Azure ecosystem.

Buddy

If you’re a fan of the BitBucket, Git, and Gitlab environments, you’ll feel right at home with Buddy. The Buddy CI/CD tool is an intelligent service for web developers who want to reduce the entry threshold for DevOps functionality. Buddy claims to be the fastest and most effective CI/CD ever, providing endless room for growth. 

With Buddy, you can use delivery pipelines to build, deploy, and test software; with access to over 100 pre-built actions you can arrange any way you choose. Lightning-fast deployments are easy to access, and support for a variety of popular languages, task managers, and frameworks are available. Buddy also integrates with various environments, from Azure and Google, to AWS, WordPress, and Shopify.

GitLab CI

It’s hard to find any developer who isn’t familiar with GitLab. The full GitLab environment represents a comprehensive set of tools including those with CI/CD functionality. GitLab CI is available on various platforms, including Mac, Windows, and Linux. It features access to a friendly UI environment, simple dashboard operation system, continuous integration, code reviews, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment. 

This CI/CD tool comes with a caching system, which also acts as a significant time saver for brands. The cache can be shared across various branches, as well as in a consistent branch, and caches can be disabled for different tasks.

CircleCI

CI/CD tool with powerful building features and wonderful integration capabilities, CircleCI is popular among the developer community. The solution can leverage Docker-based deployments to apply CI/CD pipelines to various build, test, and deployment stages. CircleCI is also excellent for cloud-managed integration and running private infrastructure firewalls. 

Well-suited for companies dealing with multiple projects at once, CircleCI supports customisations with ease, is simple to set up, and comes with minimal learning requirements. You can also set up custom commands and auto-merge functionality. Users can choose to deploy CircleCI in the Circle cloud, or their own infrastructure.

BuildKite

Buildkite is largely recognised by programmers worldwide as one of the best tools for CI/CD development. The solution provides a scalable, fast, and secure environment for running pipelines using your own infrastructure. Users can install Buildkite on MacOS, Docker, Windows, and Linux, and run jobs across multiple agents, with one centralized platform. 

If you’re looking for greater visibility, and more opportunities to build internal tools capable of leveraging GraphQL APIs, this is the tech for you. BuildKite also has an expanding plugin ecosystem, with tight integration opportunities with various tools like Campfire and Slack.

Wercker

If you’re a programmer or developer working on microservices and dockers, then Wercker might be the CI/CD solution of choice for your needs. The solution supports all kinds of repository integrations with BitBucket, GitLab, Git, and other solutions. There’s also support for docker container management and Chabot-based facilities to update your build status. 

The solution, supported by Oracle, helps you to take full advantage of the speed and agility that CI/CD functionality can offer. There are plenty of integrations to explore, and you get a lot of control over the pipeline too.

CodeShip

Created by CloudBees, CodeShip is a straightforward and reliable SaaS solution designed to help engineering teams implement and optimise their CI/CD solutions in a cloud environment. Perfect for helping small and growing groups to develop applications, microservice architecture, and more, CodeShip centralises development, team management, and dashboards. 

With CodeShip, developers are in full control of the design of their CI/CD system, and you can easily access a range of pre-built debug builds to help keep your system running smoothly from your CI environment. The solution is also simple enough to get any company up and running in minutes.

CodeFresh

Fast and efficient, the CodeFresh CI/CD solution is often regarded as the leading GitOps automation platform for Kubernetes app creation. Embraced by thousands of companies worldwide, this Kubernetes-based solution offers full support for a range of integrations with well-known tools, including GitLab, Slack, Puppet, and many others. 

The integrated Kubernetes dashboard ensures programmers have all the scalability, visibility, and speed they need to innovate and evolve across a variety of platforms, including AWS, Azure, and Google Kubernetes. The CodeFresh environment also comes with build parallelism support, with cloud and on-premises options to choose from.