Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

CircleCI vs GitHub Actions comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

CircleCI
Ranking in Build Automation
13th
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
GitHub Actions
Ranking in Build Automation
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of CircleCI is 3.6%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitHub Actions is 10.1%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Build Automation
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer0972521 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 26, 2023
Unhelpful support, unclear billing, and has offers ability to track usage
We've had occasional connectivity issues with cloud resources and build failure due to its own internal system setup and environment. That costs us credits. Support engineers do not thoroughly read and understand issues when emailing them. They reply to me with a totally different context about the problem. Just yesterday, my web applications failed to 'yarn build' after I downgraded the resource class from extr-large to large. I contacted support and got no reply. Billing is a mess. There is duplicate information in the bill downloaded from their website and when I asked for a consolidated bill, they just answered that they didn't have it. There is no transparency on how many billed minutes and credits I spent each day both on their website and the monthly bill which makes it difficult to understand when the monthly bill contains many refill item charges. It is difficult or impossible to track usage and burndown of my subscription and to gain total outstanding refill amounts on a daily basis. Their website doesn't provide sufficient information on credits allocated/calculated for my extra-large resource class.
MohamedMostafa1 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 27, 2024
Handles scalability well, automatically managing execution infrastructure without requiring additional configurationsThe automation feature of GitHub Actions is
We mainly use GitHub Actions for our CI/CD process. Whenever there's a change in our source code, we integrate and configure it using GitHub Actions to ensure code quality before merging it into our main branch I find the automation feature of GitHub Actions most valuable for our building…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The ability to automate the build process in a seamless way and run workflows effortlessly. It supports parallel builds so it can scale well. Also, it covers the basics of any build and integration tool, including email notifications (especially when tests are fixed), project insights, etc."
"The solution offers continuous integration and continuous delivery."
"Enables us to detect exactly which build failed and why, and to push multiple builds to our production environment at a very fast rate."
"The automation workflow in CircleCI related to third-party applications is very good and allows standardization of applications."
"Some of the most valuable features include container-based builds, integration with Bit Bucket and being able to store artifacts."
"It's a stable product."
"GitHub Actions is valuable for its ease of use and integration."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a good product that offers stability and performance."
"We can trigger files manually or automate processes."
"The level of automation achievable is really good. So, the custom workflow creation and Marketplace Actions improved our project's efficiency."
"The product's most beneficial feature is the ability to create workflows within the solution."
"I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to just 8 to 10 minutes through these optimizations."
"It is a very stable solution as we have not faced any issues."
"Creating workflows in YAML format is straightforward and easy to comprehend. This includes both understanding and writing workflows. Additionally, the downloading aspect for third-party instances can also be easily done. It's worth noting that vulnerability analysis and similar tasks should be part of our automation through data workflows. Furthermore, we can break down our processes step by step, starting from building, then moving on to analysis, testing, and finally deploying in production and the clear environment. All of these tasks can be efficiently managed within this platform."
 

Cons

"The solution’s pricing could be better."
"There needs to be some improvement in the user interface of CircleCI."
"Billing is a mess."
"Integration with Microsoft Azure is one area for improvement. Azure is growing in its user base, and supports various cloud infrastructure components such as Service Fabric, App Service, etc. Some of Azure’s deployment models (like Kudu) require a steep learning curve, but if CircleCI would come up with such features (deployment to App Service) out of the box, it would be amazing."
"The reporting capabilities are somewhat limited."
"The solution's integration capabilities and UI are areas of concern where improvement is required to make the product more user-friendly."
"We can leverage this database tool to manage everything within our environment and data burners, allowing for customization and execution. An additional advantage is the capability to modify aspects like file size, making processes more efficient and faster across the pipelines. Regarding improvements or implementations, I believe there should be enhancements made to the deployment tool. It should be integrated as part of the solution. Infrastructure-wise, we already have tools like GitHub and RobSpot, and data enables us to automate various processes, which is quite beneficial. As for further enhancements, I'm uncertain. I've shared everything I know. However, if there's something specific you'd like to see in future releases, a feature that may not exist yet but would be desirable, I can't provide any input on that matter."
"There is a part that detects outdated libraries. If that feature could be more intuitive and informative, that would be nice."
"There could be more integration options with different platforms."
"The primary area for improvement I see is in artifact management, especially for saving screenshots or videos from failed tests or data-driven actions. Currently, the configuration for saving these artifacts is complex."
"The only issue I have faced is with authorization, particularly when configuring the GitHub token correctly."
"GitHub sometimes makes it difficult to debug actions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of CircleCI could be less expensive."
"It's low-priced. Not high, but definitely low."
"The product is slightly more expensive than some alternatives."
"For our basic usage, we didn't have to pay."
"Regarding cost, as an enterprise, we negotiate our license and expenses, so I can't provide a specific rating for that."
"The tool's price is okay and reasonable."
"It is free and open platform, so I would rate it 1 out of 10."
"Price-wise, GitHub Actions is okay. If I want to use the product's advanced features, then I need to pay the licensing charges for the solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Build Automation solutions are best for your needs.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about CircleCI?
The solution offers continuous integration and continuous delivery.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CircleCI?
Beware of skyrocketing bills as CircleCI does not provide transparency into how they charge refills. Their monthly billing statement is almost unreadable and their online dashboard doesn't provide ...
What needs improvement with CircleCI?
We've had occasional connectivity issues with cloud resources and build failure due to its own internal system setup and environment. That costs us credits. Support engineers do not thoroughly read...
What do you like most about GitHub Actions?
I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to j...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub Actions?
The product is slightly more expensive than some alternatives, like Bitbucket, but the additional cost is minimal.
What needs improvement with GitHub Actions?
There could be more integration options with different platforms.
 

Comparisons

 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shopify, Zenefits, Concur Technologies, CyberAgent
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about CircleCI vs. GitHub Actions and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.