CI/CD tools showdown: Is Jenkins still the best choice?

Delivering quality software quickly is more important than ever in today's software development landscape. CI/CD pipelines have become essential tools for development teams to transition code from development to production. By facilitating frequent code integrations and automated deployments, CI/CD pipelines help teams steer clear of the dreaded "integration hell" and maintain a dependable software release cycle.

In the fast-paced world of software development, the CI/CD tools that support these processes are crucial. Jenkins has long been a leading player in this field, recognized for its robustness and extensive plugin ecosystem. However, as new tools come onto the scene and development practices evolve, one must ask: Is Jenkins still the best option for CI/CD? Let's explore the current landscape of CI/CD tools to assess their strengths, weaknesses, and how well they meet modern development needs.

Understanding Jenkins

Jenkins is an open-source automation server that empowers developers to build, test, and deploy their software. It is recognized for its:

• Extensive Plugin System: With more than 1,000 plugins available, Jenkins can connect with nearly any tool, from code repositories to deployment environments.

  
  

• Flexibility and Customizability: Users can configure Jenkins in numerous ways due to its scriptable nature.

  
  

• Strong Community Support: As one of the oldest players in the CI/CD market, Jenkins benefits from a large community of developers and users who contribute plugins and provide support.

pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
        stage('Build') {
            steps {
                sh 'make'
            }
        }
        stage('Test'){
            steps {
                sh 'make test'
            }
        }
        stage('Deploy') {
            steps {
                sh 'make deploy'
            }
        }
    }
}

➡️ Problems with Jenkins

Jenkins has long been a staple in the CI/CD tool landscape, valued for its flexibility and extensive plugin ecosystem. However, various challenges have led teams to explore alternative CI/CD tools that may better suit contemporary development practices and infrastructure needs. Here are some prevalent issues with Jenkins:

• Jenkins demands a detailed, manual setup and ongoing maintenance, which can become cumbersome and time-consuming as configurations change.

  
  

• The management of its vast array of plugins can lead to compatibility and stability problems, necessitating regular updates and monitoring.

  
  

• Scaling Jenkins in large or dynamic environments often requires manual intervention and additional tools to manage resources effectively.

  
  

• Its user interface is often viewed as outdated, making it less user-friendly for new developers and hindering overall productivity.

  
  

• Jenkins has faced security vulnerabilities, primarily due to its plugin-based architecture, which requires constant vigilance and frequent security updates.

  
  

• While Jenkins excels in continuous integration, it falls short in robust built-in continuous deployment capabilities, often needing extra plugins or tools.

  
  

• Operating Jenkins can be resource-heavy, especially at scale, which may drive up costs and complicate infrastructure management.

Consequently, teams are continually seeking better CI/CD tools than Jenkins. Let’s take a look at some other prominent options now.

➡️ Competitors on the Rise

Popular CI/CD Platforms, with more than 80% of the market share, are:

• GitHub Actions:

  This is a relatively new CI/CD platform from Microsoft that integrates seamlessly with its GitHub-hosted DVCS platform and GitHub Enterprise. It's an ideal option if your organization is already using GitHub for version control, has all your code stored there, and is comfortable with having your code built and tested on GitHub’s servers.

  
  

• JetBrains TeamCity.

  TeamCity is a flexible CI/CD solution that supports a variety of workflows and development practices. It allows you to create CI/CD configurations using Kotlin, taking advantage of a full-featured programming language and its extensive toolset. It natively supports languages such as Java, .NET, Python, Ruby, and Xcode, and can be extended to other languages through a rich plugin ecosystem. Additionally, TeamCity integrates with tools like Bugzilla, Docker, Jira, Maven, NuGet, Visual Studio Team Services, and YouTrack, enhancing its capabilities within your development environment.

  
  

• CircleCI:

  CircleCI is recognized for its user-friendly approach to setting up a continuous integration build system. It offers both cloud hosting and enterprise on-premise options, along with integration capabilities for GitHub, GitHub Enterprise, and Bitbucket as DVCS providers. This platform is particularly appealing if you’re already using GitHub or Bitbucket and prefer a straightforward pricing model rather than being billed by build minutes like some other hosted platforms.

  
  

• Azure DevOps:

  Azure facilitates deployments across all major cloud computing providers and provides out-of-the-box integrations for both on-premises and cloud-hosted build agents. It features Azure Pipelines as a build-and-deploy service, along with Agile Board and Test Plans for exploratory testing. Additionally, Azure Artifacts allows for the sharing of packages from both public and private registries.

  
  

• GitLab CI:

  With GitLab CI/CD, you can develop, test, deploy, and monitor your applications without needing any third-party applications or integrations. GitLab automatically identifies your programming language and uses CI/CD templates to create and run essential pipelines for building and testing your application. Once that's done, you can configure deployments to push your apps to production and staging environments.

  
  

• Travis CI:

  You can streamline your development process by automating additional steps, such as managing deployments and notifications, as well as automatically building and testing code changes. This means you can create build stages where workers rely on each other, set up notifications, prepare deployments after builds, and perform a variety of other tasks.

  
  

• AWS CodePipeline:

  This service allows you to automate your release pipelines for quick and reliable updates to your applications and infrastructure. As a fully managed continuous delivery solution, CodePipeline automates the build, test, and deploy phases of your release process every time a code change is made, based on the release model you define.

  
  

• Bitbucket:

  This add-on for Bitbucket Cloud allows users to initiate automated build, test, and deployment processes with every commit, push, or pull request. Bitbucket Pipelines integrates seamlessly with Jira, Trello, and other Atlassian products.

  
  

Other tools include Bamboo, Drone, AppVeyor, Codeship, Spinnaker, IBM Cloud Continuous Delivery, CloudBees, Bitrise, Codefresh, and more.

How to choose CI/CD Platform?

There are several things to consider while selecting the appropriate CI/CD platform for your company:

1. Cloud-based vs. self-hosted options. We see more and more companies transitioning to cloud-based CI tools. The web user interface (UI) for controlling your build pipelines is generally included in cloud-based CI/CD technologies, with the build agents or runners being hosted on public or private cloud infrastructure. Installation and upkeep are not necessary with a cloud-based system. With self-hosted alternatives, you may decide whether to put your build server and build agents in a private cloud, on hardware located on your premises, or on publicly accessible cloud infrastructure.

   
   

2. User-friendliness. The platform should be easy to use and manage, with a user-friendly interface and precise documentation.

   
   

3. Integration with your programming languages and tools. The CI/CD platform should integrate seamlessly with the tools your team already uses, including source control systems, programming languages, issue-tracking tools, and cloud platforms.

   
   

4. Configuration. Configuring your automated CI/CD pipelines entails setting everything from the trigger starting each pipeline run to the response to a failing build or test. Scripts or a user interface (UI) can configure these settings.

   
   

5. Knowledge about the platform. As with all tech, we should always consider whether our engineers have expertise and experience on the platform we want to select. If they don’t, we must check if we have a proper document. Some platforms are better documented, and some are not.

   
   

Integrating HyperTest into Your CI/CD Pipeline

Regardless of which CI/CD tool you choose, ensuring that your applications are thoroughly tested before they reach production is crucial. This is where HyperTest comes into play.

HyperTest brings a refined approach to automated testing in CI/CD pipelines by focusing on changes and maximizing coverage with minimal overhead.

Key Features of HyperTest:

✅ Automatic Test Generation: HyperTest automatically generates tests based on your actual network traffic, ensuring that your tests reflect real user interactions.

✅ Seamless Integration: HyperTest can be integrated with Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI, GitHub Actions, and other popular CI/CD tools, making it a versatile choice for any development environment.

✅ PR Validation: HyperTest analyzes pull requests (PRs) for potential issues by executing the generated tests as part of the CI/CD process. This ensures that every change is validated before it merges, significantly reducing the risk of defects reaching production.

Conclusion: Is Jenkins Still the King?

Jenkins is undeniably powerful and versatile but may not be the best choice for every scenario. For organizations deeply embedded in the Jenkins ecosystem with complex, bespoke workflows, Jenkins is likely still the optimal choice. However, for newer companies or those looking to streamline their CI/CD pipelines with less overhead, tools like GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI, or GitHub Actions might be more appropriate.

Choosing the right CI/CD tool is crucial, but ensuring the robustness of your continuous testing strategy is equally important. Whether you stick with Jenkins or move to newer tools like GitHub Actions or GitLab CI, integrating HyperTest can:

• Reduce Manual Testing Efforts: HyperTest's automatic test generation reduces the need for manual test case creation, allowing your QA team to focus on more complex testing scenarios.

  
  

• Catch Issues Early: With HyperTest integrated, you catch critical issues early in the development cycle, leading to fewer bugs in production.

  
  

• Speed Up Releases: Since HyperTest ensures thorough testing without manual intervention, it helps speed up the release process, enabling faster delivery of features and fixes to your users.