Jenkins is a self-hosted, plugin-based automation server offering maximum flexibility and customization, while GitLab CI/CD is a fully integrated, cloud-native platform built directly into GitLab with lower operational overhead. Jenkins requires more infrastructure management but supports unlimited plugins, whereas GitLab CI/CD provides tighter Git integration and easier setup but less extensibility outside its ecosystem.
Jenkins vs GitLab CI/CD — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Open-source self-hosted CI/CD automation server with extensive plugin ecosystem.
Integrated CI/CD platform built natively into GitLab for streamlined DevOps workflows
Deployment Model. Setup Complexity. Plugin Ecosystem. Git Integration. Infrastructure Overhead. Cost Model. Learning Curve
Choose Jenkins if you need maximum flexibility, support for multiple Git platforms, unlimited free builds, or have complex legacy integrations requiring custom plugins. Choose GitLab CI/CD if you want faster time-to-value, integrated Git workflows, lower operational burden, and are primarily using GitLab for version control. Jenkins dominates in large enterprises with heterogeneous toolchains; GitLab CI/CD wins for teams seeking simplicity and tight Git integration.
Jenkins: $0 (self-hosted only) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: ~480-1440 minutes (8-24 hours setup) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 6000+ plugins | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Customer responsible | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Varies (depends on deployment) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Unlimited (self-hosted) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Any OS (plugin dependent) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 6 hours | GitLab CI/CD: 0.5 hours
Jenkins: $5,000 (infrastructure) | GitLab CI/CD: $17,400 (Premium plan)
Jenkins: Self-hosted only | GitLab CI/CD: SaaS + self-managed (GitLab Cloud, on-prem, Kubernetes)
Jenkins: 50 hours | GitLab CI/CD: 12 hours
Jenkins: No (requires external Git) | GitLab CI/CD: Yes (native Git hosting)
Jenkins: No (plugin available) | GitLab CI/CD: Yes (integrated)
Jenkins: 23,000+ stars | GitLab CI/CD: 31,000+ stars
Jenkins: 40-80 hours for full enterprise setup | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 2000+ plugins | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, custom platforms | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: High - Groovy/Declarative DSL + extensive UI configuration | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Self-hosted only | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Unlimited (with distributed agents) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: $5000-$50000+ (optional support plans) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 120-180 minutes | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: $0 (self-hosted) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 20-40 hours/month | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Manual provisioning via plugins | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Legacy JSP (2010s); Blue Ocean React optional | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: On-prem, Docker, Kubernetes, VMs, air-gapped | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Responsibility of operator | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Community only (24/7 forum) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 2 (Jenkinsfile + UI) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 5,000+ (GitHub) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 1,800+ plugins | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Monthly Infrastructure Cost (10-developer team)
Jenkins: $1,200 (server + maintenance) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 3 weeks (Groovy DSL mastery) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Unlimited (on your infrastructure) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Medium (GitHub plugin + configuration) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: ~22,000 stars | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: No (requires agent/plugin configuration) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Imperative Groovy scripting | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: No (manual reconciliation) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: ~30-60 min (VM setup, Docker, plugins) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Any platform (VM, cloud, on-prem, serverless) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: ~200,000+ organizations | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 8-16 hours (server, agents, plugins) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Via plugins/agents | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Biweekly (2 weeks) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Groovy DSL + YAML | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 23,000+ stars | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Kubernetes, VMs, bare metal, cloud-agnostic | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Manual/webhook-based | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Dedicated server + agents needed | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Imperative Groovy/XML (UI + code) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Not CNCF member | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Moderate (familiar CI/CD concepts) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Monthly Cost (5 Users, Mid-Volume Usage)
Jenkins: $50-150/month (server costs only) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 20-40 hours | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Groovy/XML (powerful but complex) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Unlimited (if self-hosted) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: ~23K GitHub stars, 20+ year history | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Full control (on-premises) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: ~45% market share | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Requires configuration | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: ~16 years (2010 launch) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Secondary (JCasC/Jenkinsfile) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Setup Complexity (1-10, lower is easier)
Jenkins: 5/10 (standard server setup) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 512-2,048 MB | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 30-60 seconds | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Via plugin (Kubernetes plugin) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: UI + Groovy DSL + Jenkinsfile | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 1,800+ | GitLab CI/CD: 50-70 official integrations
Jenkins: 512-1,024 MB | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: No, requires Kubernetes plugin | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Configuration Drift Auto-Detection Interval
Jenkins: Manual polling only | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 22% of K8s deployments (2024) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: $0-2,000 (open-source + infrastructure + support) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: No, requires plugins and custom scripting | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 120-240 minutes (infrastructure, Java, plugins) | GitLab CI/CD: 15-30 minutes (preconfigured, YAML config)
Jenkins: Unlimited (self-hosted) | GitLab CI/CD: 400 minutes (GitLab.com)
Jenkins: 4GB minimum (8GB recommended) | GitLab CI/CD: 2GB (self-hosted), managed cloud option
Jenkins: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, on-premise Git (via plugins) | GitLab CI/CD: GitLab (native), GitHub/Bitbucket via integrations (limited)
Jenkins: UI-driven or Groovy-based Jenkinsfile (code-based) | GitLab CI/CD: YAML-based .gitlab-ci.yml (declarative only)
Jenkins: Kubernetes plugin available, wide adoption (mature) | GitLab CI/CD: Built-in Auto DevOps + Kubernetes integration (native)
Community Size (Stack Overflow Questions)
Jenkins: 45,000+ Stack Overflow questions | GitLab CI/CD: 8,000+ Stack Overflow questions
Jenkins: $0 (open-source) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Unlimited (self-configured) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: High (self-hosted) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Full support | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 40-80 hours for expertise | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 240-480 minutes (4-8 hours) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Manual (requires custom scripting) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: Full on-premise control | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
Jenkins: 18+ years (since 2008) | GitLab CI/CD: N/A
How to choose between Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD
Jenkins vs GitLab CI/CD — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Jenkins vs GitLab CI/CD. Contains 110 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Jenkins vs GitLab CI/CD — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Jenkins vs GitLab CI/CD.
Yes. Jenkins integrates with GitLab via the GitLab plugin (1,400+ downloads/month). You configure GitLab webhooks to trigger Jenkins jobs, and Jenkins can report build status back to merge requests. However, this requires additional setup compared to native GitLab CI/CD, and you lose tight Git integration benefits.
Which requires less operational overhead?
GitLab CI/CD with the SaaS option (GitLab.com) requires zero infrastructure overhead—no servers to manage or updates to apply. Jenkins always requires dedicated infrastructure maintenance (Java, plugins, security updates). Even self-hosted GitLab requires less overhead than Jenkins due to Docker-based deployment and automated updates.
What if I need to use multiple Git platforms (GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab)?
Jenkins is the clear choice for multi-platform Git support. Jenkins plugins support GitHub, Bitbucket, Gitea, and on-premise Git servers. GitLab CI/CD is optimized for GitLab and offers limited first-class support for other platforms, making it unsuitable if you need to manage pipelines across multiple Git hosts.
How much does each cost for a team of 10 developers?
Jenkins: $0 (free, self-hosted). You only pay for infrastructure (~$50-200/month for adequate servers). GitLab CI/CD: Free tier (400 min/month) insufficient for active team; Premium tier is $19/month per user ($190/month for 10 users). GitLab becomes more cost-effective than Jenkins infrastructure at scale, but Jenkins is free if you manage servers internally.
Which has a steeper learning curve for new team members?
Jenkins has a steeper learning curve. New users must understand Jenkins UI, job configuration, plugins, and Groovy syntax. GitLab CI/CD uses declarative YAML, which is more intuitive for developers familiar with modern DevOps practices. Most developers can write a basic .gitlab-ci.yml in minutes; Jenkins requires hours of training.
How to Choose Between Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD
Deployment Model: Jenkins has Self-hosted only (requires own servers), while GitLab CI/CD has Cloud-hosted (SaaS) or self-hosted options.
Setup Complexity: Jenkins has High (requires Java, manual configuration, plugin management), while GitLab CI/CD has Low (preconfigured, YAML-based pipelines).
Plugin Ecosystem: Jenkins has 1,800+ community plugins available, while GitLab CI/CD has 50-70 official integrations, limited extensibility.
Git Integration: Jenkins has Via plugins (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket supported), while GitLab CI/CD has Native, built-in (GitLab repositories only for native features).
Infrastructure Overhead: Jenkins has High (requires dedicated servers, Java VM, maintenance), while GitLab CI/CD has Low (managed cloud or lightweight self-hosted).
Cost Model: Jenkins has Free (self-hosted), unlimited build agents, while GitLab CI/CD has Free tier limited to 400 CI minutes/month, paid plans $19-$228/month.
Learning Curve: Jenkins has Steep (UI-driven, many configuration options), while GitLab CI/CD has Moderate (declarative YAML syntax).