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Buildkite vs GitLab CI: What are the differences?
Introduction
Here, we will discuss the key differences between Buildkite and GitLab CI. Buildkite and GitLab CI are both popular continuous integration (CI) tools used in software development. While they share some similarities, there are several important differences that set them apart.
Integration with GitLab repositories: Buildkite can integrate with GitLab repositories, but it is not limited to GitLab. It can also integrate with other version control systems like GitHub or Bitbucket. GitLab CI, on the other hand, is tightly integrated with GitLab, making it a seamless choice for GitLab users who want to keep their development process within the GitLab ecosystem.
Pipeline Configuration: Buildkite uses a YAML-based configuration file called "pipeline.yml" to define the CI/CD pipelines. The configuration allows a flexible and customizable approach. GitLab CI also uses a YAML-based configuration file called ".gitlab-ci.yml". However, GitLab CI provides a set of predefined keywords and configurations that make it easier to set up CI/CD pipelines without requiring extensive YAML knowledge.
Scalability and Parallelism: Buildkite offers excellent scalability and parallelism capabilities. It allows users to split their jobs across multiple agents and run them in parallel, making it suitable for large-scale CI/CD workflows. GitLab CI also supports parallelism but may have limitations depending on the GitLab instance and licensing.
User Interface and Usability: GitLab CI is tightly integrated into the GitLab platform, providing a unified user interface (UI) for managing repositories, issues, merge requests, and CI/CD pipelines. On the other hand, Buildkite provides a separate web interface dedicated solely to managing CI/CD pipelines. This separation allows Buildkite to have a more focused and streamlined UI for CI/CD workflows.
Community Support: GitLab CI has a large and active community behind it due to the popularity of the GitLab platform. Users can find extensive documentation, forums, and resources for troubleshooting and getting help with GitLab CI. Buildkite also has a supportive community, but it may not have the same breadth and depth of resources as GitLab CI.
Pricing and Deployment: Buildkite offers a hosted SaaS solution, as well as self-hosted options for on-premise deployment. It has a pricing model based on the number of concurrent build agents used. GitLab CI, on the other hand, is part of the GitLab platform, which offers a variety of deployment options, including a free self-hosted Community Edition and a paid self-hosted Enterprise Edition. The pricing for GitLab CI is typically based on the GitLab license chosen.
In summary, Buildkite and GitLab CI differ in their integration capabilities, pipeline configuration approaches, scalability, user interfaces, community support, and pricing/deployment options. The choice between the two will depend on specific requirements and preferences of the development team.
We are a mid-size startup running Scala apps. Moving from Jenkins/EC2 to Spinnaker/EKS and looking for a tool to cover our CI/CD needs. Our code lives on GitHub, artifacts in nexus, images in ECR.
Drone is out, GitHub actions are being considered along with Circle CI and GitLab CI.
We primarily need:
- Fast SBT builds (caching)
- Low maintenance overhead (ideally serverless)
- Everything as code
- Ease of use
I think I've tried most of the CI tools out there at some point. It took me a while to get around to Buildkite because at first I didn't see much point given it seemed like you had to run the agent yourself. Eventually it dawned on me why this approach was more ingenious than I realised:
Running my app in a production (or production-like) environment was already a solved problem, because everything was already in some form of "everything as code". Having a test environment where the only difference was adding the Buildkite agent was a trivial addition.
It means that dev/test/prod parity is simple to achieve and maintain. It's also proven to be much easier to support than trying to deal with the problems that come with trying to force an app to fit into the nuances and constraints that are imposed by the containers/runtime of a CI service. When you completely control all of the environment the tests are running in you define those constraints too. It's been a great balance between a managed service and the flexibility of running it yourself.
And while none of my needs have hit the scale of Shopify (I saw one of their engineers speak about it at a conference once, I can't find the video now though ๐) it's good to know I can scale out my worker nodes to hundreds of thousands of workers to reduce the time it takes for my tests to run.
I would recommend you to consider the JFrog Platform that includes JFrog Pipelines - it will allow you to manage the full artifact life cycle for your sbt, docker and other technologies, and automate all of your CI and CD using cloud native declarative yaml pipelines. Will integrate smoothly with all your other toolset.
more configurable to setup ci/cd: * It can provide caching when build sbt, just add this section to yml file * Easy to use, many documentation
Weakness: * Need use gitlab as repository to bring more powerful configuration
Buddy is one of the most easy-to-use tools for CI I ever met. When I needed to set up the pipeline I was really impressed with how easy it is to create it with Buddy with only a few moments. It's literally like: 1. Add repo 2. Click - Click - Click 3. You're done and your app is on prod :D The top feature that I've found is a simple integration with different notification channels - not only Slack (which is the one by default), but Telegram and Discord. The support is also neat - guys respond pretty quickly on even a small issue.
Pros of Buildkite
- Great customer support18
- Github integration17
- Easy to use16
- Easy setup16
- Simplicity12
- Simple deployments10
- Simple and powerful configuration9
- Bitbucket integration4
- Github enterprise integration3
- Amazing swag3
- Integrates with everything2
- Sourcecode is hosted by source code owner.1
- Configuration in cloud1
- Run your own test containers with their AWS stack file1
- Superior user experience1
- Great ui1
Pros of GitLab CI
- Robust CI with awesome Docker support22
- Simple configuration13
- All in one solution9
- Source Control and CI in one place7
- Integrated with VCS on commit5
- Free and open source5
- Easy to configure own build server i.e. GitLab-Runner5
- Hosted internally2
- Built-in Docker Registry1
- Built-in support of Review Apps1
- Pipeline could be started manually1
- Enable or disable pipeline by using env variables1
- Gitlab templates could be shared across logical group1
- Easy to setup the dedicated runner to particular job1
- Built-in support of Kubernetes1
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Cons of Buildkite
Cons of GitLab CI
- Works best with GitLab repositories2
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What is Buildkite?
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