Tekton is a cloud-native, Kubernetes-based CI/CD framework built on CRDs, while Jenkins is a traditional, plugin-driven automation server that runs as a standalone application. Tekton excels in containerized environments with declarative pipelines, whereas Jenkins offers broader ecosystem support and easier on-premise deployment.
Tekton vs Jenkins — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Cloud-native CI/CD framework built on Kubernetes CustomResourceDefinitions.
Open-source automation server with extensive plugin ecosystem for CI/CD.
Architecture Paradigm. Pipeline Definition. Available Plugins/Integrations. Kubernetes Requirement. Learning Curve for DevOps Teams. First Release Year. Enterprise Support Maturity
Choose Tekton if your team runs Kubernetes-native infrastructure, values declarative GitOps-style pipelines, and wants tight container orchestration integration. Choose Jenkins if you need maximum plugin ecosystem flexibility, plan to run hybrid on-premise and cloud environments, or have teams unfamiliar with Kubernetes that require traditional web-based configuration.
Tekton: ~150 official integrations | Jenkins: 1,900+ community plugins
Tekton: YAML (declarative) | Jenkins: Groovy/YAML (imperative/declarative)
Tekton: ~5,000+ organizations | Jenkins: ~500,000+ organizations
Tekton: ~2,500 questions | Jenkins: ~50,000 questions
Tekton: 100-200 MB (K8s pods) | Jenkins: 512-1024 MB (JVM process)
Tekton: Kubernetes-only | Jenkins: On-premise, cloud, hybrid, Docker
Tekton: Unlimited (self-hosted) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Bitbucket | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: Hub with ~500 Tekton tasks | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: Red Hat, Google, IBM, Shopify | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: Native self-hosted | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: 200+ community tasks | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: Dashboard not included | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: 25% of K8s CI/CD users | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: 31% of K8s CI/CD users | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: 200+ (Tekton Hub) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: 3-5 days (YAML syntax) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: Requires orchestration | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: Optional (webhook-based) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: ~3,000 stars | Jenkins: ~22,000 stars
Tekton: ~50-80 official tasks | Jenkins: 1,800+ plugins
Tekton: ~3-5% market share | Jenkins: ~45% market share
Tekton: Built-in, runs as CRDs | Jenkins: Via plugins/agents
Tekton: Every step containerized | Jenkins: Requires configuration
Tekton: ~5 years (2019 release) | Jenkins: ~16 years (2010 launch)
Tekton: Primary (CRDs) | Jenkins: Secondary (JCasC/Jenkinsfile)
Setup Complexity (1-10, lower is easier)
Tekton: 8/10 (Kubernetes expertise required) | Jenkins: 5/10 (standard server setup)
Tekton: $25 (basic socket set) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: $280 (1/2-inch impact wrench) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: 2-5 (basic tool use) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: -10 to 50°C (tool dependent) | Jenkins: N/A
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: $0 (self-hosted only)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: ~480-1440 minutes (8-24 hours setup)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Customer responsible
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Varies (depends on deployment)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (self-hosted)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Any OS (plugin dependent)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: $5,000 (infrastructure)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: No (requires external Git)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: No (plugin available)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 40-80 hours for full enterprise setup
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, custom platforms
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: High - Groovy/Declarative DSL + extensive UI configuration
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (with distributed agents)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: $5000-$50000+ (optional support plans)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 20-40 hours/month
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Manual provisioning via plugins
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Legacy JSP (2010s); Blue Ocean React optional
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Responsibility of operator
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Community only (24/7 forum)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 2 (Jenkinsfile + UI)
Monthly Infrastructure Cost (10-developer team)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: $1,200 (server + maintenance)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 3 weeks (Groovy DSL mastery)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (on your infrastructure)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Medium (GitHub plugin + configuration)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: No (requires agent/plugin configuration)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Imperative Groovy scripting
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: No (manual reconciliation)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: ~30-60 min (VM setup, Docker, plugins)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Any platform (VM, cloud, on-prem, serverless)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: ~200,000+ organizations
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 8-16 hours (server, agents, plugins)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Biweekly (2 weeks)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Groovy DSL + YAML
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Kubernetes, VMs, bare metal, cloud-agnostic
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Manual/webhook-based
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Dedicated server + agents needed
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Imperative Groovy/XML (UI + code)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Moderate (familiar CI/CD concepts)
Monthly Cost (5 Users, Mid-Volume Usage)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: $50-150/month (server costs only)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Groovy/XML (powerful but complex)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (if self-hosted)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: ~23K GitHub stars, 20+ year history
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Full control (on-premises)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Via plugin (Kubernetes plugin)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: UI + Groovy DSL + Jenkinsfile
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: No, requires Kubernetes plugin
Configuration Drift Auto-Detection Interval
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Manual polling only
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 22% of K8s deployments (2024)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: $0-2,000 (open-source + infrastructure + support)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: No, requires plugins and custom scripting
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 120-240 minutes (infrastructure, Java, plugins)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 4GB minimum (8GB recommended)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, on-premise Git (via plugins)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: UI-driven or Groovy-based Jenkinsfile (code-based)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Kubernetes plugin available, wide adoption (mature)
Community Size (Stack Overflow Questions)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 45,000+ Stack Overflow questions
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Unlimited (self-configured)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: High (self-hosted)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 40-80 hours for expertise
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 240-480 minutes (4-8 hours)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Manual (requires custom scripting)
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: Full on-premise control
Tekton: N/A | Jenkins: 18+ years (since 2008)
How to choose between Tekton and Jenkins
Tekton vs Jenkins — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Tekton vs Jenkins. Contains 143 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Tekton vs Jenkins — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Tekton vs Jenkins.
Tekton is fully open-source with community support (Linux Foundation). Jenkins offers commercial support through CloudBees starting at ~$5,000/year for enterprise features.
Can I migrate existing Jenkins pipelines to Tekton?
There is no automatic migration tool. You'll need to rewrite Jenkinsfiles as Tekton YAML TaskRuns and PipelineRuns. The concepts differ significantly, making manual conversion necessary.
Tekton is generally faster due to lighter resource footprint and native container execution, while Jenkins overhead increases with plugin count. Speed difference is typically 10-30% in favor of Tekton in containerized environments.
No, Tekton is fundamentally built on Kubernetes CustomResourceDefinitions and requires an active K8s cluster to function. If you need CI/CD without Kubernetes, Jenkins is a better choice.
Which has better support for GitOps workflows?
Tekton is purpose-built for GitOps with declarative YAML pipelines stored in Git. Jenkins can support GitOps but requires more configuration and additional tools like ArgoCD to achieve the same workflow.
How to Choose Between Tekton and Jenkins
Architecture Paradigm: Tekton has Kubernetes-native CRD-based, while Jenkins has Traditional master-agent.
Pipeline Definition: Tekton has YAML declarative (TaskRuns, PipelineRuns), while Jenkins has Groovy imperative (Jenkinsfile).
Consider: Available Plugins/Integrations
Available Plugins/Integrations: Tekton has ~150 official Tekton integrations, while Jenkins has ~1,900+ community plugins.
Kubernetes Requirement: Tekton has Required (core dependency), while Jenkins has Optional (can run standalone).
Consider: Learning Curve for DevOps Teams
Learning Curve for DevOps Teams: Tekton has Steep (requires K8s expertise), while Jenkins has Moderate (web UI friendly).
First Release Year: Tekton has 2019, while Jenkins has 2011.
Enterprise Support Maturity: Tekton has Growing (backed by Linux Foundation), while Jenkins has Established (15+ years production).