CircleCI vs GitHub Actions comparison

CircleCI and GitHub are both solutions in the Build Automation category. CircleCI is ranked #14 with an average rating of 4.0, while GitHub is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.5. CircleCI holds a 3.2% mindshare in BA, compared to GitHub’s 11.1% mindshare. Additionally, 66% of CircleCI users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of GitHub users who would recommend it.

CircleCI

Read 5 CircleCI reviews

1,154 Views
1,041 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

GitHub Actions

Read 20 GitHub Actions reviews

2,330 Views
2,011 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

CircleCI

GitHub Actions

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

CircleCI and GitHub Actions compete in the CI/CD pipeline market. GitHub Actions seems to have the upper hand due to its deep integration with GitHub, enhancing workflow accessibility and efficiency.

Features: CircleCI offers customizable workflows and extensive third-party tool integrations, a comprehensive suite for continuous integration and delivery, and container-based builds. GitHub Actions is characterized by seamless GitHub integration, scalability with various runners, and a user-friendly UI for CI/CD pipeline setup.

Room for Improvement: CircleCI could enhance documentation for new users, improve integration speed with non-standard tools, and offer more intuitive UI updates. GitHub Actions might benefit from expanding support for AI projects, increasing integration proficiency with proprietary software, and reducing latency in job execution start times.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CircleCI offers container-based deployments with customizable options appealing to diverse team needs, alongside robust customer support. GitHub Actions simplifies deployment with its GitHub integration, leveraging community support, which offers straightforward deployment within the GitHub ecosystem.

Pricing and ROI: CircleCI offers pricing based on container usage, with initial setup costs potentially higher due to its customization capabilities. GitHub Actions follows GitHub’s pricing model, offering a free tier that scales with usage, providing favorable ROI especially for projects within the GitHub ecosystem.

To learn more, read our detailed CircleCI vs. GitHub Actions Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CircleCI vs. GitHub Actions

March 2025

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Helped 845,040 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

CircleCI

Ranking in Build Automation

14th

Average Rating

6.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GitHub Actions

Ranking in Build Automation

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of CircleCI is 3.2%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitHub Actions is 11.1%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

reviewer0972521

Chief Technology Officer at Kyberlife

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.

Read full review

Muzammil Riaz

Senior Test Engineer at 10Pearls

Offers version control, automated script execution and reduces manual efforts

Its integration and deployment are quite easy. You need to create a YAML file in your project, detailing configurations within this file. It integrates itself, requiring you to specify titles, descriptions, parameters, and a trigger scheduler if needed. Apart from that, it's just a simple YAML file, so there's no need for complex configurations. In one project, I used GitHub to automate an application related to email marketing, focusing on actions for data scraping. This required running scripts daily, sometimes even twice or thrice a day. Manually executing these scripts is inefficient and overly reliant on individual team members. However, by integrating the project with GitHub Actions, we automated script execution. Triggers were set up to initiate the pipeline automatically with every new commit or push to a branch. Additionally, we implemented schedulers to run pipelines at predetermined times, like 9 PM or 2 PM. Another enhancement was executing five tests in parallel through data actions, making the process more robust. GitHub Actions also offers stepwise execution details, greatly aiding in understanding and managing workflows. 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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some of the most valuable features include container-based builds, integration with Bit Bucket and being able to store artifacts."

"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 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 automation workflow in CircleCI related to third-party applications is very good and allows standardization of applications."

"The solution offers continuous integration and continuous delivery."

"It's a stable product."

"It is a very stable solution as we have not faced any issues."

"It improves efficiency as it involves no downtime and is managed by GitHub."

"GitHub Actions is valuable for its ease of use and integration."

"The most valuable features of GitHub Actions include its seamless integration within GitHub, which simplifies the CI/CD pipeline setup. The scalability of using different types of runners—both public and private runners—enhances deployment flexibility."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a good product that offers stability and performance."

"I am familiar with the entire life cycle of the product."

"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."

"We can trigger files manually or automate processes."

More GitHub Actions pros

Cons

"Billing is a mess."

"There needs to be some improvement in the user interface of CircleCI."

"The solution’s pricing could be better."

"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 main challenge I've experienced is with integration, particularly uploading to OneDrive, which was more complex compared to Google Drive or AWS S3 bucket."

"In our company, procedures or rules need to be completed, which is not a problem with GitHub Actions but with our process."

"The UI could be better."

"In terms of improvements, I think better logging for debugging purposes would be helpful, especially for complex workflows."

"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."

"My company would want to see some AI features in the tool as it can add value to the product."

"The only issue I have faced is with authorization, particularly when configuring the GitHub token correctly."

"Switching between hosted and self-hosted agents can be a bit complex, as self-hosted agents need to be provisioned in platforms like Azure or AWS."

More GitHub Actions cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of CircleCI could be less expensive."

"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."

"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."

"The tool's price is okay and reasonable."

"It is free and open platform, so I would rate it 1 out of 10."

"It's low-priced. Not high, but definitely low."

"The cost for GitHub Actions may be around $45 dollars per user."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

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.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with CircleCI?

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub Actions?

I pay approximately five dollars per developer per month. I created a GitHub organization for managing users.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GitHub Actions?

GitHub Actions lacks a feature for automating the build process for mobile applications. I currently rely on GitHub Actions for web applications but have to use another tool for mobile apps.

See all answers

Comparisons

Tekton vs CircleCI

Compared 25% of the time

TeamCity vs CircleCI

Compared 22% of the time

GitLab vs CircleCI

Compared 12% of the time

Jenkins vs CircleCI

Compared 9% of the time

Harness vs CircleCI

Compared 8% of the time

More CircleCI Competitors

Tekton vs GitHub Actions

Compared 36% of the time

Bamboo vs GitHub Actions

Compared 16% of the time

TeamCity vs GitHub Actions

Compared 11% of the time

Harness vs GitHub Actions

Compared 11% of the time

AWS CodePipeline vs GitHub Actions

Compared 4% of the time

More GitHub Actions Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

March 2025

Download CircleCI product report

Buyer's Guide

GitHub Actions

March 2025

Download GitHub Actions product report

Overview

CircleCI is a leading platform for automating continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD), valued for its capability to manage software updates efficiently. With an easy-to-configure system using YAML files and robust Docker support, CircleCI streamlines backend updates, frontend developments, and mobile app testing across devices. Its parallelism feature and insightful dashboard reduce processing times and improve workflow visibility, respectively, enhancing team collaboration and productivity while maintaining high-quality outputs across development stages.

CircleCI

GitHub Actions streamlines CI/CD processes with an intuitive YAML workflow and robust automation, enhancing efficiency and integration with third-party tools and cloud providers.

GitHub Actions automates development pipelines, supports scalable public and private runners, and manages secure secrets. This tool integrates seamlessly with platforms like AWS, Kubernetes, Google Cloud, and Databricks. It enhances DevOps workflows with reliable task automation. Users note areas for UI and deployment tool improvements, artifact management simplification, and additional programming language support. Debugging complexity and hosting agent transitions pose challenges, along with integration enhancements for tools like OneDrive.

What are GitHub Actions' key features?

YAML Workflow Creation: Simplifies configuration with intuitive YAML.
CI/CD Integration: Provides seamless integration within DevOps pipelines.
Automation Capabilities: Automates tasks with minimal manual intervention.
Third-Party Tool Compatibility: Works well with diverse tools and platforms.
Secure Secrets Management: Protects sensitive information effectively.

What benefits do users find in GitHub Actions?

Enhanced Performance: Boosts task execution speed and reliability.
Scalability: Supports growth with flexible runner options.
Improved Release Cycles: Ensures consistent updates and deployments.
Workflow Efficiency: Reduces manual tasks, increasing operational efficiency.

Companies in tech and software development frequently utilize GitHub Actions for integrating, deploying, and versioning projects. It is often employed for deploying applications to cloud environments like AWS and Kubernetes, managing extensive CI/CD workflows, and automating test and security operations, thereby streamlining production cycles across industries.

GitHub

Sample Customers

Shopify, Zenefits, Concur Technologies, CyberAgent

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

CircleCI vs. GitHub Actions

March 2025

Free Report: CircleCI vs. GitHub Actions

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