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GitHub Actions pros and cons

Vendor: GitHub
4.2 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Creating workflows in YAML format using GitHub Actions is straightforward and easy to comprehend, which facilitates creating custom workflows and enhances automation efficiency.
GitHub Actions offers numerous built-in features for pipeline and release management, and work item tracking, making it a versatile tool that integrates well with hardware and optimizes processes.
Collaboration is a key benefit, allowing developers from different locations and platforms to collaborate seamlessly due to its platform-agnostic nature and flexibility across various operating systems.
The scalability and automation features of GitHub Actions are valuable, with the ability to create custom workflows and Marketplace Actions to improve project efficiency significantly, including reduced execution times through parallel execution and multiple pipelines.
Seamless integration with GitHub streamlines CI/CD pipeline setup and enhances deployment flexibility with different types of runners, both public and private, ensuring stability and performance.

CONS

There is a need for enhanced reporting capabilities and integration with various platforms.
Artifact management, especially for saving screenshots or videos from failed tests, requires simplification.
Debugging actions can be challenging due to insufficient logging for complex workflows.
Authorization issues arise with GitHub token configuration which often complicates the process.
GitHub Actions lacks a feature for automating the build process for mobile applications, indicating the need for support for more programming languages and frameworks.
 

GitHub Actions Pros review quotes

Muzammil Riaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 27, 2024
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.
reviewer2268420 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 31, 2023
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.
Sandeep Mutalik - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 12, 2024
It is a very stable solution as we have not faced any issues.
Learn what your peers think about GitHub Actions. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
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Ivaylo Ivanov - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 1, 2024
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.
MM
Jan 23, 2024
The main benefit is collaboration. It allows us to easily collaborate with other developers, regardless of location. For example, we can collaborate with both our African and German colleagues seamlessly. It's platform-agnostic, so it is flexible and not tied to any OS, so we can work on Linux, Windows, web, and even Oracle applications. It's flexible, reliable, and overall an excellent tool for our needs.
TD
Nov 21, 2024
The most valuable feature of GitHub Actions is the ability to automate various tasks, such as backups and deployments, to ease the development workflow.
Ankit Kondal - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 8, 2024
It is user-friendly, with clear and organized processes, making it easy to navigate and work with.
MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 30, 2024
It improves efficiency as it involves no downtime and is managed by GitHub.
Ashish Makasare - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 25, 2024
We can trigger files manually or automate processes.
NB
Jan 29, 2024
The level of automation achievable is really good. So, the custom workflow creation and Marketplace Actions improved our project's efficiency.
 

GitHub Actions Cons review quotes

Muzammil Riaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 27, 2024
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.
reviewer2268420 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 31, 2023
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.
Sandeep Mutalik - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 12, 2024
My company would want to see some AI features in the tool as it can add value to the product.
Learn what your peers think about GitHub Actions. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
848,253 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Ivaylo Ivanov - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 1, 2024
Improvements could be made in terms of time-saving capabilities and resolving potential complexities in centralized workflows.
MM
Jan 23, 2024
There is a part that detects outdated libraries. If that feature could be more intuitive and informative, that would be nice.
TD
Nov 21, 2024
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.
Ankit Kondal - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 8, 2024
Sometimes it is quite complex to commit code from our local system to the GitHub repository; creating a folder in GitHub can be tedious.
MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 30, 2024
The main improvement would be to add support for more programming languages and frameworks.
Ashish Makasare - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 25, 2024
GitHub sometimes makes it difficult to debug actions.
NB
Jan 29, 2024
The UI could be better.