Buildkite Reviews

Name: Buildkite
Brand: Buildkite
Rating: 4.1 (14 reviews)

4.1 out of 5

14 reviews
92% willing to recommend

What is Buildkite?

Buildkite is a powerful CI/CD tool praised for its scalability and flexibility in automating and managing complex workflows across multiple platforms. Its integration capabilities with various systems and supports for secure, customizable environments enhance development efficiency and data privacy. The feedback highlights significant boosts in productivity and operational cost reduction, making Buildkite a strategic asset for businesses aiming to streamline development tasks and align with organizational goals.

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Buildkite is the #8 ranked solution in top Build Automation solutions. PeerSpot users give Buildkite an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. Buildkite is most commonly compared to Tekton: Buildkite vs Tekton.

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Featured Buildkite reviews

Prabin Silwal

Senior Engineering Consultant at ASSURANCE IQ, INC.

The problem we are facing sometimes is that we have lots of unit testers, and we have to wait about ten minutes to complete all of those because we want to run or find a way. It's not directly due to the limitation of the tool as well, but when we are running the spec, we want to run those parallelly and decrease the downtime so that our deployment can be faster. I think that one is not possible only due to the it also depends upon the unit test framework as well we are using. When we tried with the multiple test cases in a parallel manner, there were some dependencies, and one over another kept failing. We make those sequential calls. The aforementioned area consists of the issues my company faced while using Buildkite.

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Raed I.Habib

Senior DevOps Engineer at a newspaper with 5,001-10,000 employees

Buildkite has been pushing a lot of effort toward the plugin marketplace and plugin users, especially with the Kubernetes plugin that supports the scalability of agents. The flexibility of some plugins is somewhat limited. In the past, I used to modify the plugins according to my needs. Now, plugins support some sort of configuration or reconfiguration. I would love to see some features added in that direction and the plugin's use. I would like to see some improvements in the hooks implementation. The hooks are amazing and give me a lot of extra flexibility in many of the pipelines, but they're still limited in some areas.

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Zhi Fei Lee

Senior Software Engineer at Seek

I haven't used any other CI/CD platform before this, except for GitLab CI/CD, which I only used at a surface level. We would write some build steps and deploy them as soon as the tests were done. I'm unsure if GitLab has the same capabilities as Buildkite, particularly the step configuration feature that allows you to customize and control the move from one stage to the next (dev to staging, staging to production). I find this feature in Buildkite very easy to integrate and use. If you're considering using the solution for the first time, I suggest starting with GitLab CI/CD or GitHub Actions. Buildkite might be overkill for smaller projects or individual use. It's usually more expensive for new users but can be cost-effective for large-scale organizations. I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.

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PeerAnalyst reports based on Buildkite reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	Build Automation	Mar 24, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Mar 24, 2025	Download
Comparison	Buildkite vs GitLab	Mar 24, 2025	Download
Comparison	Buildkite vs Tekton	Mar 24, 2025	Download
Comparison	Buildkite vs Jenkins	Mar 24, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Tekton	3.8	12.1%	88%	36 interviews Add to research
GitHub Actions	4.3	11.0%	100%	20 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Users frequently praise Buildkite for its scalability, which allows businesses to handle large-scale automation and continuous integration smoothly, improving development efficiency. The platform's flexible pipeline configuration stands out, enabling teams to customize workflows to meet specific project requirements.

Additionally, Buildkite integrates well with various version control systems and plugins, offering a broad ecosystem that enhances its utility without locking in specific tools or platforms. Its reliability and self-hosted agent model are highly appreciated for maintaining security and control over the build environment, making it a trustworthy choice for enterprises concerned with data privacy and operational security.

"Buildkite allows us to build automations and integration tasks effectively."
"They have great plugins, scalability, UI, and pipeline options. They also offer webhooks that allow integration with custom setups to send events dynamically."
"The tool is simple and has no learning curve. If you know YAML, you can master it. It is simple to learn."

Room for Improvement

Users have expressed a need for more comprehensive documentation and clearer guidelines to help new users get started and to assist experienced users with advanced features. There is a desire for enhanced UI/UX design to make the interface more user-friendly and visually appealing. Users have mentioned occasional issues with integration stability, especially when connecting with third-party tools, which could be addressed to ensure smoother operations. There is a call for more robust customer support to address and resolve user queries and technical problems swiftly.

"There is a need for rework occasionally, and issues like syntax errors can occur multiple times, especially when manual changes are made in AWS or Amazon Connect that are not captured in the code."
"BuildKite should follow some providers like GitHub Actions. They can offer a shared agent or cloud agent."
"As a newbie, I think BuildKite has several issues. For example, it can't get the status of a PR once it's closed. The syntax is easy to use, but updating a pipeline requires administrator settings, and viewing pipelines for others isn't straightforward."

ROI

Users noted improvements in deployment efficiency and faster build times, contributing to overall cost savings and increased productivity. Companies appreciated the scalability and integration capabilities of Buildkite, which allowed them to maintain development agility as their operations grew.

The reliability and control over the CI/CD process were also mentioned as crucial factors that led to better resource management and reduced overhead.

Pricing

Buildkite's pricing is fair. The setup cost is considered minimal, with a straightforward installation process that users appreciate. Licensing terms are flexible, which makes it accessible for teams of different sizes and scales.

"I don't think the tool is expensive."
"The solution's per-user pricing model suits huge enterprises but is expensive for small to medium businesses."
"For a business plan, it was 19 USD per month per user."

Popular Use Cases

Buildkite is primarily utilized by various companies to automate and manage continuous integration and deployment pipelines.

Users frequently cite its ability to handle complex workflows and deployment processes across multiple platforms as exceptionally beneficial. The tool's capacity to integrate seamlessly with existing systems while providing robust support for parallel testing and scaling according to demand is particularly highlighted.

Additionally, Buildkite's capability to support private, secure, and customizable build environments ensures that users have precise control over build configuration and security. This enables development teams to maintain high performance while managing various software development tasks efficiently.

Service and Support

Buildkite users appreciate the prompt and helpful responses from the support team, which highlight their efficiency and expertise. Users often find the assistance provided by Buildkite's staff valuable in solving problems and facilitating smoother operations within their development pipelines.

Deployment

The initial setup of the Buildkite is straightforward and well-documented, appealing particularly to developers who appreciate its flexibility and scalability. Thanks to its container-friendly design and extensive API support, users highlight the ease with which they can integrate Buildkite with their existing tools and workflow.

Buildkite's supportive customer service and engaging community share useful tips and configurations, further simplifying the setup process.

Scalability

Buildkite's scalability is highly effective. They appreciate its ability to handle significant increases in workload without a loss in performance. The platform's flexible infrastructure integrates seamlessly with existing systems, which supports growth and allows teams to scale up operations smoothly as needed.

Stability

Buildkite is strong and reliable. Users often commend its robust performance and minimal disruptions, which ensure smooth and consistent operations. The platform's resilience in handling complex CI/CD pipelines and its effectiveness in maintaining steady workflows even under substantial loads are highlighted as significant advantages. Additionally, the feedback suggests that Buildkite provides dependable integrations and supports many tools, enhancing overall stability in diverse development environments.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Buildkite Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.