CircleCI is a fully managed cloud-based CI/CD platform requiring minimal setup, while Jenkins is a self-hosted open-source solution offering maximum customization and control but demanding significant infrastructure management. CircleCI suits teams prioritizing speed-to-market; Jenkins suits organizations needing complete control and cost optimization at scale.
CircleCI vs Jenkins — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Cloud-native CI/CD platform with GitHub/GitLab integration and zero infrastructure management.
Open-source self-hosted CI/CD automation server with extensive plugin ecosystem.
Deployment Model. Setup Time. Base Cost (Monthly). Infrastructure Required. Plugin/Integration Ecosystem. Learning Curve (Hours). Concurrent Builds Limit (Free)
Choose CircleCI if your team values rapid deployment, minimal DevOps overhead, and modern workflows with 5-minute setup times. Choose Jenkins if you need maximum customization, have the in-house expertise to manage infrastructure, or operate in air-gapped environments where self-hosted solutions are mandatory.
CircleCI: ~180 (6,000 credits) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 24/7 dedicated support with 99.99% SLA | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Advanced with resource scaling | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: $15-30 (for limited minutes) | Jenkins: $0 (self-hosted only)
CircleCI: ~5-10 minutes | Jenkins: ~480-1440 minutes (8-24 hours setup)
CircleCI: ~500+ official/community integrations | Jenkins: 6000+ plugins
CircleCI: Fully managed by CircleCI | Jenkins: Customer responsible
CircleCI: SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, FedRAMP Ready | Jenkins: Varies (depends on deployment)
CircleCI: 1 concurrent job | Jenkins: Unlimited (self-hosted)
CircleCI: Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, GPU | Jenkins: Any OS (plugin dependent)
CircleCI: YAML-based, intuitive | Jenkins: High - Groovy/Declarative DSL + extensive UI configuration
CircleCI: 6,000 credits (~30 standard builds) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 1 concurrent job | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: $20 per user/month | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Advanced DLC feature included | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Available on Performance+ plan | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Extensive Orb Registry (~5000+ orbs) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: $30-1,200 (Performance plan starts at $30) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 5 minutes (GitHub authorization → first build) | Jenkins: 20-40 hours
CircleCI: 50+ official orbs | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 1 concurrent build | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: ~2,500 MB (runner image) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Native OAuth, PR checks, status checks, app permissions | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: YAML + visual builder + orb registry | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 40-60% reduction with Docker layer caching | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: ~400 minutes (6,000 credits) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: No (third-party via integrations) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab (external platforms) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: No (requires third-party tools) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Unlimited (1 concurrent job) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: $0.20/minute (pay-as-you-go) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Advanced caching (25x faster) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 2,000 certified orbs | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Full SSH support | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 10-15 minutes (OAuth + config) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 500+ orbs | Jenkins: 1,800+ plugins
Monthly Cost (5 Users, Mid-Volume Usage)
CircleCI: $350/month | Jenkins: $50-150/month (server costs only)
CircleCI: 0 hours (fully managed) | Jenkins: 20-40 hours
CircleCI: YAML (simple, human-readable) | Jenkins: Groovy/XML (powerful but complex)
CircleCI: 1 concurrent job free | Jenkins: Unlimited (if self-hosted)
CircleCI: ~10K GitHub discussions | Jenkins: ~23K GitHub stars, 20+ year history
CircleCI: US/EU regions only (CircleCI controls) | Jenkins: Full control (on-premises)
CircleCI: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Bitbucket Cloud | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Full support (DLC feature) | Jenkins: N/A
Configuration File Complexity (1-10 scale)
CircleCI: 7 (moderate-complex) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: $30 | Jenkins: $0 (self-hosted)
CircleCI: 24/7 with guaranteed response times | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Cloud SaaS + Self-hosted Enterprise | Jenkins: Self-hosted only
CircleCI: Good (Docker support alongside VMs) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 3 (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA-eligible) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: Limited (vendor-managed cloud) | Jenkins: N/A
CircleCI: 5-15 minutes | Jenkins: 240-480 minutes (4-8 hours)
CircleCI: $30 (Starter plan) | Jenkins: $0 (open-source)
CircleCI: 200+ curated integrations | Jenkins: 1,800+
CircleCI: 5GB per run | Jenkins: Unlimited (self-configured)
CircleCI: None (fully managed) | Jenkins: High (self-hosted)
CircleCI: Not available | Jenkins: Full support
CircleCI: 1 concurrent | Jenkins: Unlimited
CircleCI: 8-12 hours for proficiency | Jenkins: 40-80 hours for expertise
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: $5,000 (infrastructure)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: No (requires external Git)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: No (plugin available)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 40-80 hours for full enterprise setup
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (self-hosted)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, custom platforms
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Self-hosted only
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (with distributed agents)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: $5000-$50000+ (optional support plans)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 120-180 minutes
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: $0 (self-hosted)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 20-40 hours/month
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Manual provisioning via plugins
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Legacy JSP (2010s); Blue Ocean React optional
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: On-prem, Docker, Kubernetes, VMs, air-gapped
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Responsibility of operator
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Community only (24/7 forum)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 2 (Jenkinsfile + UI)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 5,000+ (GitHub)
Monthly Infrastructure Cost (10-developer team)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: $1,200 (server + maintenance)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 3 weeks (Groovy DSL mastery)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (on your infrastructure)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Medium (GitHub plugin + configuration)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: No (requires agent/plugin configuration)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Imperative Groovy scripting
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: No (manual reconciliation)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: ~30-60 min (VM setup, Docker, plugins)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Any platform (VM, cloud, on-prem, serverless)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: ~200,000+ organizations
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 8-16 hours (server, agents, plugins)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Via plugins/agents
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Biweekly (2 weeks)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Groovy DSL + YAML
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Kubernetes, VMs, bare metal, cloud-agnostic
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Manual/webhook-based
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Dedicated server + agents needed
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Imperative Groovy/XML (UI + code)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Not CNCF member
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Moderate (familiar CI/CD concepts)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: ~45% market share
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Requires configuration
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: ~16 years (2010 launch)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Secondary (JCasC/Jenkinsfile)
Setup Complexity (1-10, lower is easier)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 5/10 (standard server setup)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Via plugin (Kubernetes plugin)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: UI + Groovy DSL + Jenkinsfile
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: No, requires Kubernetes plugin
Configuration Drift Auto-Detection Interval
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Manual polling only
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 22% of K8s deployments (2024)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: $0-2,000 (open-source + infrastructure + support)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: No, requires plugins and custom scripting
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 120-240 minutes (infrastructure, Java, plugins)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 4GB minimum (8GB recommended)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, on-premise Git (via plugins)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: UI-driven or Groovy-based Jenkinsfile (code-based)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Kubernetes plugin available, wide adoption (mature)
Community Size (Stack Overflow Questions)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 45,000+ Stack Overflow questions
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Manual (requires custom scripting)
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: Full on-premise control
CircleCI: N/A | Jenkins: 18+ years (since 2008)
How to choose between CircleCI and Jenkins
CircleCI vs Jenkins — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for CircleCI vs Jenkins. Contains 162 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
CircleCI vs Jenkins — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for CircleCI vs Jenkins.
No, CircleCI is cloud-only via their SaaS platform. However, they offer an IP-restricted private runner feature (paid plan) that executes jobs in your infrastructure while maintaining CircleCI's management layer. Jenkins runs fully on-premise with no cloud dependency, making it the only choice for air-gapped networks.
CircleCI is cheaper initially (free tier with 1 concurrent build, $30/month Starter plan), but costs scale with build volume. At 50+ concurrent builds, Jenkins becomes cheaper despite requiring $3,000-8,000 annual infrastructure investment. For teams with 3-10 developers, CircleCI typically costs $50-150/month; Jenkins costs $5,000+ annually in DevOps time alone.
Does Jenkins require coding to set up CI/CD pipelines?
Jenkins supports both declarative (YAML-based Jenkinsfile) and scripted (Groovy) approaches. Declarative pipelines are beginner-friendly for simple workflows, but advanced use cases require Groovy scripting knowledge. CircleCI uses YAML configuration (circle.yml) which is simpler and has better documentation for non-programmers.
Which integrates better with GitHub and GitLab?
CircleCI has native, seamless GitHub and GitLab integration with automatic webhook detection and GitHub Checks API support — no manual configuration. Jenkins requires 3-4 plugins (GitHub Integration, GitLab Connection, Webhooks) and manual webhook setup, adding 30-60 minutes of configuration work.
Can Jenkins handle the same scale as CircleCI?
Yes, Jenkins scales beyond CircleCI via distributed agents. Jenkins supports 10,000+ connected agents for massive parallel workloads, whereas CircleCI's paid tiers max out at 100+ concurrent builds. Jenkins excels at enterprise scale; CircleCI excels at teams with modest throughput needs.
How to Choose Between CircleCI and Jenkins
Deployment Model: CircleCI has Cloud-hosted (SaaS), while Jenkins has Self-hosted open-source.
Setup Time: CircleCI has 5-15 minutes, while Jenkins has 4-8 hours.
Base Cost (Monthly): CircleCI has $30 (starter plan), while Jenkins has $0 (open-source).
Infrastructure Required: CircleCI has None (managed), while Jenkins has Dedicated server(s) required.
Plugin/Integration Ecosystem: CircleCI has 200+ integrations, while Jenkins has 1,800+ plugins.
Learning Curve (Hours): CircleCI has 8-12 hours, while Jenkins has 40-80 hours.
Consider: Concurrent Builds Limit (Free)
Concurrent Builds Limit (Free): CircleCI has 1 concurrent, while Jenkins has Unlimited (self-hosted).