GitHub Actions offers superior integration with GitHub repositories and a larger marketplace with 20,000+ pre-built actions, while Bitbucket Pipelines provides tighter Jira integration and lower costs for teams already using Atlassian products.
GitHub Actions vs Bitbucket Pipelines — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
CI/CD automation platform integrated directly into GitHub repositories
Native CI/CD solution built into Bitbucket repositories with Atlassian ecosystem focus
Pre-built Actions/Templates Available. Monthly Free Build Minutes. Native Repository Integration. Jira Integration Quality. Concurrent Job Limits (Free Tier). Cost per Additional 1,000 Minutes. Marketplace Maturity (Years Active)
Choose GitHub Actions if you use GitHub, need extensive integrations, or value cost-efficiency with 2,000 free monthly minutes and massive action marketplace. Choose Bitbucket Pipelines if your team heavily uses Jira, Confluence, and other Atlassian tools, or prefers a simpler CI/CD setup with native issue tracking.
GitHub Actions: 3,000 (public repos) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1 (GitHub only) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 256 concurrent | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5 minutes | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20,000+ actions | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Standard support available | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Supported with basic controls | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1-2 weeks | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 15 minutes to first workflow | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 10000+ actions | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2000 minutes (GitHub-hosted runners) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: GitHub only (primary) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Low - Simple YAML syntax | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Cloud-hosted and self-hosted | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Limited by GitHub account quotas | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: $231/user/year (GitHub Enterprise) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
Free Monthly CI/CD Minutes (Private Repos)
GitHub Actions: 2,000 minutes | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 0.5 GB per project | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 11,000+ Actions | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: $200/month (Advanced Security tier) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Enterprise Server tier (paid only, $231+/month) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Issues, basic Boards, limited automation | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Integrated (GitHub-only) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20 matrix configurations | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 0.5 hours (average) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 13,000+ actions | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
Monthly Infrastructure Cost (10-developer team)
GitHub Actions: $25 (usage-based + GitHub Team) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (private) / unlimited (public) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1 week (YAML basics) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20 (GitHub-hosted runners) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Native (zero additional setup) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: No (GitHub cloud default, Enterprise option) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5-15 minutes | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000-3,000 | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Not required | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: GitHub (primary), limited others | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 6 years (since 2019) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 18,000+ actions | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Microsoft, GitHub, 60% of public repos | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Self-hosted runners available | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0 (free tier available) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (private repos) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 360 (6 hours) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5 | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 90 | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Native (built-in) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 11,000+ | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5-10 (YAML config only) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (unlimited for public repos) | Bitbucket Pipelines: 50
GitHub Actions: 20 concurrent jobs | Bitbucket Pipelines: 1
GitHub Actions: 10,000+ | Bitbucket Pipelines: 500+
GitHub Actions: $0.008 | Bitbucket Pipelines: $0.02-0.03 (per-pipeline equivalent)
GitHub Actions: $0 (free tier available) | Bitbucket Pipelines: $5 per user/month
GitHub Actions: 750,000+ | Bitbucket Pipelines: 100,000+
Configuration File Complexity (1-5 scale)
GitHub Actions: 4 (complex YAML, matrix builds) | Bitbucket Pipelines: 2 (simpler YAML structure)
GitHub Actions: GitHub only | Bitbucket Pipelines: Bitbucket only
GitHub Actions: 3,000 minutes | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0 (free tier available) | Bitbucket Pipelines: $6 (Bitbucket Cloud Standard needed)
GitHub Actions: 10,000+ verified actions | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 42% of CI/CD users (2024) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0.008 | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: GitHub only | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5 minutes (native UI) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 3 (Linux, Windows, macOS) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (public repos only) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0.008/minute | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Standard caching (1x baseline) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 400 GB | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 15,000+ actions | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Not supported | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2-3 minutes (native) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 minutes/month | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0.008 per minute | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Requires plugins | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1-2 hours | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: Free (2,000 min/month included) | Bitbucket Pipelines: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (public: unlimited) | Bitbucket Pipelines: 50
GitHub Actions: 20,000+ | Bitbucket Pipelines: 2,000
GitHub Actions: 20 | Bitbucket Pipelines: 1
GitHub Actions: $0.24 | Bitbucket Pipelines: $10.00
GitHub Actions: Via third-party actions (workaround) | Bitbucket Pipelines: Native deep integration
GitHub Actions: 6 years (2019) | Bitbucket Pipelines: 4 years (2021)
How to choose between GitHub Actions and Bitbucket Pipelines
Compare GitHub Actions vs Bitbucket Pipelines
GitHub Actions vs Bitbucket Pipelines — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for GitHub Actions vs Bitbucket Pipelines. Contains 84 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
GitHub Actions vs Bitbucket Pipelines — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for GitHub Actions vs Bitbucket Pipelines.
Which CI/CD tool is cheaper for heavy usage?
GitHub Actions is significantly cheaper: at $0.24 per 1,000 minutes overage vs Bitbucket's $10 per 1,000 minutes, GitHub costs 41x less for overages. Additionally, GitHub provides 2,000 free minutes monthly vs Bitbucket's 50, making GitHub the clear cost winner for teams running frequent builds.
Can I use GitHub Actions with Bitbucket repositories or vice versa?
No. GitHub Actions works exclusively with GitHub repositories, while Bitbucket Pipelines works exclusively with Bitbucket repositories. They are tightly coupled to their respective platforms. If you need CI/CD with other repositories, you'd need Jenkins, GitLab CI, or another multi-platform solution.
Which integrates better with Atlassian products like Jira?
Bitbucket Pipelines has native deep integration with Jira, automatically linking deployments to Jira issues and providing bi-directional updates. GitHub Actions requires third-party actions and custom workarounds to achieve similar Jira integration, making it significantly less seamless for teams heavily invested in Atlassian products.
How many pre-built integrations does each platform have?
GitHub Actions marketplace has 20,000+ community-created actions available, while Bitbucket Pipelines has approximately 2,000 plugins. This 10x difference means GitHub Actions offers integrations for nearly any service, while Bitbucket may require custom solutions for niche tools.
Which is better for open-source projects?
GitHub Actions is superior for open-source: it provides unlimited free build minutes for public repositories, while Bitbucket limits free users to 50 minutes monthly regardless of repository visibility. This makes GitHub Actions the natural choice for open-source maintainers and contributors.
How to Choose Between GitHub Actions and Bitbucket Pipelines
Consider: Pre-built Actions/Templates Available
Pre-built Actions/Templates Available: GitHub Actions has 20,000+, while Bitbucket Pipelines has 2,000+.
Monthly Free Build Minutes: GitHub Actions has 2,000 (public repos unlimited), while Bitbucket Pipelines has 50.
Native Repository Integration: GitHub Actions has GitHub only (100% native), while Bitbucket Pipelines has Bitbucket only (100% native).
Jira Integration Quality: GitHub Actions has Via third-party actions, while Bitbucket Pipelines has Native deep integration.
Consider: Concurrent Job Limits (Free Tier)
Concurrent Job Limits (Free Tier): GitHub Actions has 20 concurrent jobs, while Bitbucket Pipelines has 1 concurrent job.
Consider: Cost per Additional 1,000 Minutes
Cost per Additional 1,000 Minutes: GitHub Actions has $0.24 USD, while Bitbucket Pipelines has $10 USD.
Consider: Marketplace Maturity (Years Active)
Marketplace Maturity (Years Active): GitHub Actions has 6 years (launched 2019), while Bitbucket Pipelines has 4 years (launched 2021).