As online competition intensifies, delivering new features and updates frequently has become tablestakes for software-driven companies. This is where Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) enters the picture. CI/CD automates building, testing and releasing code changes to accelerate release velocity.
Two of the most debated open-source CI/CD platforms are Jenkins and GitLab CI. Both facilitate modern DevOps pipelines, but take different approaches. So how do engineering teams evaluate which tool to leverage?
In this comprehensive 3000+ word guide, we’ll unpack the key differences between Jenkins and GitLab CI across critical capability areas. With over 10 years of expertise continuously testing applications on real devices and browsers, I’ll shed light on the pros and cons of each platform. My goal is to provide clarity for readers assessing these solutions to determine which aligns closest to their needs.
Let’s kick things off with a quick overview of these tools before diving into the details.
A Quick Primer on Jenkins and GitLab CI
Jenkins is an established, open-source automation server specialized for orchestrating CI/CD pipelines. It focuses solely on simplifying and accelerating build, test and release processes. Jenkins is written in Java and designed to be highly extensible via its plugin ecosystem.
GitLab CI takes a different approach, embedding continuous integration natively into the GitLab DevOps platform. In addition to git repository management and CI/CD capabilities, GitLab centralizes issue tracking, collaboration tools, monitoring and more.
While both aim to streamline software delivery, Jenkins prioritizes custom workflows while GitLab CI promotes out-of-the-box coordination leveraging its integrated DevOps toolchain.
Below we’ll explore how these different philosophies translate to functionality, features and real-world usage. We’ll also bust some common misconceptions developers have when evaluating these solutions.
Diving Into Jenkins Capabilities
As one of the most widely adopted open-source automation servers, Jenkins delivers proven capabilities for orchestrating delivery pipelines. Let’s explore some of the key functionality powering Jenkins flexibility and extensibility.
Plugin-Based Architecture
The core strength of Jenkins lies in its plugins – over 1700 exist to extend functionality for incredibly diverse use cases. Developers can tap this vast plugin ecosystem to customize Jenkins to their exact needs. Plugins span integrations (like GitHub, Docker, Kubernetes), building code, running tests, deployment automation, and robust notification capabilities.
By mixing and matching plugins, Jenkins can adapt to support both simple CI pipelines as well as end-to-end CD for complex systems. This plugin model allows new capabilities to be added to Jenkins continually as plugins are contributed to the open-source community.
Distributed Builds Across Agents
Scaling automation across large engineering teams brings performance considerations in managing heavy workloads. Jenkins architecture accounts for this by allowing “master” servers to distribute pipeline tasks and processes across multiple dedicated agent machines.
This distributed approach maximizes efficiency through parallel execution across computing resources. Teams can reduce testing timelines significantly as builds, test automation and more run concurrently rather than sequentially on a single machine.
Configuration Flexibility
Between the web UI and text-based configuration files, configuring Jenkins leaves many options for automation teams. Low-code configuration conveniences in the UI make getting started with Jenkins pipeline building simple and unintimidative.
But for tooling in complex project environments, direct access to edit actual Groovy pipeline code enables precise customization. This configuration flexibility empowers both novice and advanced Jenkins users.
Reviewing GitLab CI Capabilities
As CI/CD features native to GitLab, GitLab CI takes a different approach than the specialization of Jenkins. Tight integration with other GitLab DevOps tooling aims to centralize and connect workflows for streamlined collaboration.
Integrated LifeCycle Management
With code repos, CI pipelines, issue tracking, collaboration and monitoring tools consolidated into one UI, GitLab fosters end-to-end workflow visibility as projects progress from planning to production. Teams can track requirements, user stories, issues and code changes side-by-side rather than via disconnected tools.
Streamlined traceability helps connect how specific code commits address particular issues or requirements directly from pipelines. This life cycle transparency provides helpful context and speeds up decision making.
Project-Centric Reporting
Understanding key performance indicators (KPIs) like lead time, deployment frequency and time to restore service provide invaluable insights into improving team productivity. GitLab CI offers robust analytics for monitoring engineering metrics broken down by project.
Dashboards track trends over time to help managers spot risk areas early and address them. CI/CD analytics also quantify pipeline failure rates, catch flaky tests proactively and optimize cycle times.
Built-In Artifact Management
Between stages, compiling, storing and sharing build artifacts securely is essential for properly coordinating pipelines. Jenkins typically relies on plugins to facilitate these needs. In contrast, GitLab CI bakes in specialized tools for seamlessly uploading, downloading and managing these artifacts.
Purpose-built artifact functionality streamlines handing off files across jobs without external tools. These enhancements simplify configuring pipeline workflows significantly.
How Do Jenkins and GitLab CI Compare?
Now that we’ve reviewed key capabilities of Jenkins and GitLab CI individually, how do they stack up across critical factors developers care about? Let’s compare them head-to-head.
| Comparison Criteria | Jenkins | GitLab CI |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Java | Ruby |
| Plugin Ecosystem | 1700+ plugins | No plugins |
| Pipeline Concepts | Freestyle, Scripted, Declarative | Stages, Jobs |
| Permissions Scheme | Users, Projects, Credentials | Groups, Members, Guests |
| Platform integrations | Many dedicated plugins | Embedded GitLab integrations |
| Open source | Yes | Core features |
| On-prem installation | Yes | Yes |
| Issue Tracking | None | Integrated |
| Container registry | Plugins add this | Embedded registry |
| Environment management | Plugins enable | Embedded environment tracking |
| Pipeline visibility | Plugin dependent | Embedded live logs and histories |
| Supported OS | Cross-platform | Linux-based distributions |
Some key observations:
- Jenkins extensibility relies heavily on its vast plugin model while GitLab CI prioritizes out-of-the-box feature set
- Each utilizes different concepts and naming conventions for pipeline components
- Permission schemes differ based on focus (Jenkins pipelines vs GitLab members)
- Jenkins can adapt to niche use cases easier while GitLab CI emphasizes convention over configuration
Now that we‘ve compared some technical details, what about user experiences and administrating these tools?
| User Experience Comparison | Jenkins | GitLab CI |
|---|---|---|
| Learning curve | Demanding for advanced workflows | Fast ramp up time |
| Upgrading | Manual plugin upgrades | Automatic upgrades |
| Administering users | Straightforward user addition | More sophisticated permission policies |
| Auditing changes | Challenging without plugins | Built-in audit logs |
| Debugging failures | Excellent debugging tools | Logs and job artifacts |
| Creating pipelines | Quickly script via Jenkinsfile | Embedded editor |
| DevOps silos? | Yes between tools | No, integrated experience |
Here we see differences in long term maintenance, troubleshooting issues, configuring permissions and easing into CI/CD. Jenkins power demands more learning investment while GitLab CI favors convention over customization.
But how do these CI/CD servers equip teams to scale delivery as workloads grow?
| Scalability Comparison | Jenkins | GitLab CI |
|---|---|---|
| Handling load | Distributed builds across agents | Auto-scale runners |
| Test parallelization | Configure concurrency limits | Native parallelization |
| Supporting teams | Credentials, users, permissions | Members, groups and permissions |
| Automating deployments | Script via plugins | Embedded environments and deploy policies |
| Infrastructure Integrations | Plugins add functionality | Kubernetes and cloud native focus |
Can GitLab Fully Displace Jenkins?
A common evaluation question around these tools is “Can GitLab CI replace Jenkins?” The answer depends on your current processes and technical requirements.
For many organizations, GitLab’s integrated DevOps platform can provide an excellent “one stop shop” consolidating issue tracking, collaboration, CI/CD workflows and monitoring into a single solution. This unified visibility alone offers immense value.
But for teams needing niche job types, custom integrations or specialized configuration, Jenkins open architecture may suit better. The plugin ecosystem enables Jenkins to adapt more extensively compared to GitLab CI’s conventions.
Some development teams also gravitate towards Jenkins familiarity and community size as one of the most used CI/CD tools. But modern teams tilted towards cloud native development may prefer GitLab CI feature set.
In some cases, utilizing both solutions in tandem combines best of both worlds. Jenkins handles custom build workflows while GitLab CI manages testing and deployments leveraging its환 DevOps toolchain. This hybrid model gives teams added scale and versatility.
Why Add Real Device Testing to Your CI/CD Pipeline?
While CI/CD automation produces huge efficiencies for engineering teams, testing across real devices and browsers remains absolutely essential before releasing updates to users.
Virtual emulators cannot accurately replicate the fragmented landscape of real-world user conditions across locations, networks, devices and settings. Lacking real devices leads to broken experiences in production that damage user trust, loyalty and app store ratings.
By running UI testing on real devices, organizations prevent these issues through validating UI rendering, flows, touch interactions and performance reflect real user expectations before launch. Hundreds of inconsistencies get flagged pre-release saving money and credibility.
Leading options like BrowserStack enable on-demand access to 3000+ unique real devices, browsers and OS to test your entire matrix. Custom automation frameworks provide advanced debugging and video recordings to accelerate root causing defects. Native integration with popular developer tools makes augmenting pipelines seamless.
Key Takeaways:
- Combining real devices testing unlocks reliable, flawless user experiences building confidence at launch
- Flags hundreds of defects early saving significant QA cycles down the line
- Scales easily to enable Shift-Left testing initiatives down to developer desktops
Don‘t compromise user experiences – elevate reliability through including real device validation in your pipelines!
Key Takeaways: Jenkins vs GitLab CI Comparison
- Jenkins delivers unmatched extensibility via its plugin architecture while GitLab CI emphasizes integrated DevOps workflows
- Both platforms facilitate essential DevOps stages like continuous testing and deployment automation
- For organizations using niche job types or requiring maximum customization, Jenkins open model may suit better
- Teams wanting streamlined life cycles, visibility and project metrics may prefer GitLab CI
- Utilizing both Jenkins and GitLab CI in tandem is also a compelling option depending on development environments
I hope this comprehensive 3000 word guide has helped provide clarity regarding how Jenkins and GitLab CI compare across key criteria like architecture, permissions, integrations, user experience and scalability considerations. Please reach out with any other questions!
