Jenkins vs Azure DevOps

The world of DevOps is incomplete without ‘Continuous Integration’ and ‘Continuous Deployment’ after all these are among the building blocks of the methodology. When we talk about CI/CD the first name that comes to most peoples’ notice is Jenkins, one of the oldest and most flourished CI/CD tool in existence, however, there is one more name that’s picking up the pace as we talk, Azure DevOps, formerly known as Team Foundation Server. In this blog, we will see a detailed comparison of these two players and which one is your best fit.

The Differences:

Azure DevOps: It is often described as the complete project management and software shipment tool, providing unlimited hosted git repository for better code integration and a complete agile and project management solution both on cloud and on-premises.

Jenkins: The open source leading CI server known for it’s enormous integration plugins for building, testing and deploying virtually any application.

Key Features:

Jenkins	Azure DevOps
Easy Installation	Agile Tools
Open Source	Hosted Git repositories
Rich landscape of plugins	YAML based pipelines

Social Presence:

	Jenkins	Azure DevOps
Git hub Stars	17K	N/A
Hacker News Points	217	11.1K
Stack Overflow Questions	44.2K	19.5K
Redit Points	626	15.6

Industry Presence:

Jenkins	Azure DevOps
Facebook	Microsoft
Netflix	Via Varejo
Udemy	QR Point
Instacart	Queue-it

Integration:

Jenkins	Azure DevOps
Slack	Github
Datadog	Git
Browse Stack	Docker
Azure DevOps	Slack
Sonarqube	Jenkins
Rancher	Slack
AWS Code deploy	Visual Studio
Octopus Deploy	Eclipse
Liquibase	Octopus deploy

Advantages:

Jenkins	Azure DevOps
Hosted Internally	Complete & Powerfull
Open source	Huge extension ecosystem
Great for build and deploy	Azure Integration
Tons of integration	One stop shop for CI/CD & project management
Rich set of plugins	Deployment Groups and Environments
Configuration As Code	YAML based pipelines
Minimalist design	Integrated artifact management
Shared library	Azure pipeline templates

Limitations:

Jenkins	Azure DevOps
Groovy gets hard to manage	Dependent on C# for agents
Plugin compatibility issues	Limited integration with Jenkins
No support for YAML	Half Baked
Too much dependent on plugins	Azure hosted agents can really hamper the executions at times

Google Trends showing Azure Devops vs Jenkins interest over time

The Verdict:

Like all the other CI/CD tools, both Azure DevOps and Jenkins have their pros and cons. While pointing out the limitations of both products is not the goal of this blog, it is safe to assume those are some of the reasons a team may choose one over the other. Alternatively, a more astute approach would be to look at what is required as the end goal.

Does the product support the programming technology the team is using? Does it integrate with your code repository? Are there support aspects that need to be considered for enterprise-level uptime related to the build and deploy system? These and a lot more should be considered when choosing a CI/CD system.

Conversely, the commercial aspect may be the reason why your team selects Azure DevOps over Jenkins or other similar products. Utilizing the commercial offerings may provide the right combination of support, updates, and disaster recovery to ensure a stable environment.

In the end it all boils down to what allows your team to perform in ways that not just completes the task but may also spur on additional innovation. With innovation and a stable path to delivery, many development teams enjoy their ability to focus on code instead of how that code is delivered. By examining Azure DevOps vs. Jenkins, you are sure to find the one that allows for the right approach for your group.

That’s all for this guys, I hope it helped you get some insights on the tool of your choice, do let us know which tool are you using for your implementations.

Till next time, happy learning!!!

Blog Pundit: Adeel Ahmad and Abhishek Dubey

Opstree is an End to End DevOps solution provider