Overview

CircleCI

Stacks13.0K

Followers7.1K

Votes974

fastlane

Stacks659

Followers437

Votes74

GitHub Stars40.6K

Forks6.0K

CircleCI vs fastlane: What are the differences?

Introduction

This Markdown code provides a comparison between CircleCI and fastlane, highlighting their key differences.

Structure and Purpose: CircleCI is a continuous integration and delivery platform that automates the process of building, testing, and deploying software. It supports various programming languages and provides a cloud-based infrastructure. On the other hand, fastlane is a deployment automation toolset for mobile app developers, specifically designed for automating tasks such as building, testing, and releasing iOS and Android apps.
Integration and Compatibility: CircleCI integrates with various version control systems like Git, GitHub, and Bitbucket, allowing easy configuration of build pipelines. It supports multiple environments and operating systems. Fastlane, on the other hand, integrates seamlessly with popular mobile development tools like Xcode and Android Studio, providing a unified workflow for iOS and Android app development.
Configuration: CircleCI uses a YAML-based config file called .circleci/config.yml to define the build pipeline. Users can specify various parameters and steps to execute during the build process. Fastlane utilizes a Fastfile which is written in Ruby to define automation tasks. It offers a wide range of built-in actions and allows customization for specific app deployment needs.
Testing and Deployment: CircleCI enables users to run tests on committed code and provides automatic feedback on the build status, allowing for continuous integration and delivery. It automates the deployment process to various platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Docker. Fastlane focuses on automating tasks related to app deployment, including building and signing app binaries, running tests, and submitting apps to app stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Community and Support: CircleCI has a large user community and provides extensive documentation and support resources. It offers integrations with third-party tools and services to enhance the development workflow. Fastlane also has an active community and provides robust documentation and guides. It offers plugins that extend its functionality and supports integrations with tools like SonarQube and Crashlytics.
Pricing and Licensing: CircleCI offers both free and paid plans, with pricing based on resource consumption and additional features. It provides customizable resources and dedicated instances for enterprise customers. Fastlane, on the other hand, is an open-source tool and completely free to use. It is maintained by the community and contributions are welcome.

In summary, CircleCI is a comprehensive continuous integration and delivery platform that supports a wide variety of programming languages and offers cloud-based infrastructure. Fastlane, on the other hand, is a specialized deployment automation toolset specifically designed for mobile app developers.

Advice on CircleCI, fastlane

Dustin

Senior Developer at Elegant Themes

Apr 18, 2019

Reviewon

CircleCI

We use CircleCI because of the better value it provides in its plans. I'm sure we could have used Travis just as easily but we found CircleCI's pricing to be more reasonable. In the two years since we signed up, the service has improved. CircleCI is always innovating and iterating on their platform. We have been very satisfied.

607k views607k

Comments

Somnath

Engineering Leader at Altimetrik Corp.

Jun 25, 2020

Needs adviceon

CircleCI

Drone.io

GitHub Actions

I am in the process of evaluating CircleCI, Drone.io, and Github Actions to cover my #CI/ CD needs. I would appreciate your advice on comparative study w.r.t. attributes like language-Inclusive support, code-base integration, performance, cost, maintenance, support, ease of use, ability to deal with big projects, etc. based on actual industry experience.

Thanks in advance!

1.82M views1.82M

Comments

Phillip

Developer at Coach Align

Mar 18, 2021

Decided

The introduction of Orbs a few years ago has really streamlined CircleCI configuration files and made them really easy to work with. Haven't tried GitHub Actions and decided to go with what was familiar instead of trying something new. Tried to make AWS Codepipeline work a few years back on different projects and found it to be incredibly frustrating, lacking support for some of the most basic features and use cases.

41.1k views41.1k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

CircleCI	fastlane
Continuous integration and delivery platform helps software teams rapidly release code with confidence by automating the build, test, and deploy process. Offers a modern software development platform that lets teams ramp.	fastlane lets you define and run your deployment pipelines for different environments. It helps you unify your app’s release process and automate the whole process. fastlane connects all fastlane tools and third party tools, like CocoaPods.
Language-Inclusive Support;Custom Environments;Flexible Resource Allocation;SSH Or Local Builds For Easy Debugging;Improved Caching;Unmatched Security;Parallelism;Insights	Connect all build tools together;Define multiple lanes for different needs;Jenkins Integration;Extend by adding your own build steps;Deploy from any computer;Release new app updates with the push of a button
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 40.6K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 6.0K
Stacks 13.0K	Stacks 659
Followers 7.1K	Followers 437
Votes 974	Votes 74
Pros & Cons
Pros 226 Github integration 177 Easy setup 153 Fast builds 94 Competitively priced 74 Slack integration Cons 12 Unstable 6 Scammy pricing structure 0 Aggressive Github permissions	Pros 20 Easy to use 13 Open Source 13 Itunes connect deployment 11 Incredible flexability 9 Third party integrations
Integrations
dotCloud GitHub Xcode Azure Container Service Slack Heroku JavaScript Node.js Python Amazon EC2	Testmunk GitHub Bitbucket TestFlight HockeyApp HipChat Crashlytics Travis CI Jenkins Slack

What are some alternatives to CircleCI, fastlane?

Jenkins

In a nutshell Jenkins CI is the leading open-source continuous integration server. Built with Java, it provides over 300 plugins to support building and testing virtually any project.

Travis CI

Free for open source projects, our CI environment provides multiple runtimes (e.g. Node.js or PHP versions), data stores and so on. Because of this, hosting your project on travis-ci.com means you can effortlessly test your library or applications against multiple runtimes and data stores without even having all of them installed locally.

Codeship

Codeship runs your automated tests and configured deployment when you push to your repository. It takes care of managing and scaling the infrastructure so that you are able to test and release more frequently and get faster feedback for building the product your users need.

TeamCity

TeamCity is a user-friendly continuous integration (CI) server for professional developers, build engineers, and DevOps. It is trivial to setup and absolutely free for small teams and open source projects.

Drone.io

Drone is a hosted continuous integration service. It enables you to conveniently set up projects to automatically build, test, and deploy as you make changes to your code. Drone integrates seamlessly with Github, Bitbucket and Google Code as well as third party services such as Heroku, Dotcloud, Google AppEngine and more.

wercker

Wercker is a CI/CD developer automation platform designed for Microservices & Container Architecture.

GoCD

GoCD is an open source continuous delivery server created by ThoughtWorks. GoCD offers business a first-class build and deployment engine for complete control and visibility.

Shippable

Shippable is a SaaS platform that lets you easily add Continuous Integration/Deployment to your Github and BitBucket repositories. It is lightweight, super simple to setup, and runs your builds and tests faster than any other service.

Buildkite

CI and build automation tool that combines the power of your own build infrastructure with the convenience of a managed, centralized web UI. Used by Shopify, Basecamp, Digital Ocean, Venmo, Cochlear, Bugsnag and more.

Snap CI

Snap CI is a cloud-based continuous integration & continuous deployment tool with powerful deployment pipelines. Integrates seamlessly with GitHub and provides fast feedback so you can deploy with ease.