Updated March 21, 2023
Difference Between GoCD and Jenkins
Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery are the most important part of the Software Development process. Jenkins and GoCD are both open-source tools. If you want to have complete visibility and control over software, GoCD is the best choice for continuous delivery. For continuous integration, Jenkins can be used because it’s an open-source CI server that is extendable with a variety of plugins available. Nearly over 1000 + plugins are fundamental to Jenkins. Jenkins is an automation tool for general purpose. For single-purposed and laser-focused Continuous delivery GoCD is the best. Both GoCD and Jenkins are useful for building and maintaining complex pipelines. Below we discuss GoCD vs Jenkins in detail.
Head to Head Comparison Between GoCD and Jenkins (Infographics)
Below are the top 11 comparisons between GoCD vs Jenkins:
Key Differences between GoCD and Jenkins
Let us discuss some of the major key differences between GoCD vs Jenkins:
Key Features of GoCD
- Complete transparency over your end to end pipeline and workflow. Visibility across the complete process.
- GoCD is a highly customizable open-source tool that supports both Windows and Linux.
- It follows an easy setup process for pipeline deployment in software development. You can handle complex workflows by executing tasks in parallel, along with dependency management.
- It Supports Testing.
- GoCD supports automation of the project life cycle from code check-in to deployment over a server by following the step by step approach from building the code and then testing test cases again, Finally deploying to the dedicated server.
- It’s a server that models, visualizes and executes the continuous delivery pipeline.
Key Features of Jenkins
- Jenkins is also open source and also free for users around the world.
- Can perform both Continuous Delivery and Continuous Integration operations in software development.
- Jenkins is very much easier when it comes to installation and configuration. Upgrading plugins and jobs is also easy.
- It supports a huge number of operations and methods such as authentication, notification management, implementing version control systems, scheduling jobs and deploying pipeline in parallel.
- It also supports the most important software development process such as source code management(SCM), Build management, UI and administration.
- Jenkins is self-hosted. More than one build can run in parallel. It also follows the master server and the agent concept.
- Jenkins supports its remote API, which gives another way to integrate Jenkins into your internal products and your preferable tools.
- Supports integration with tools like Slack, GitHub, and email for a communication-based protocol as Jenkins has 1000 + plugins available in its ecosystem.
GoCD vs Jenkins Comparison Table
The table below summarizes the comparisons between GoCD vs Jenkins:
| Type | GoCD | Jenkins |
| General | Tool for Continuous Delivery purpose. If you are new to the CD tool, don’t worry; you can easily learn using GoCD within 15 minutes. | Automation-tool built for Continuous Integration purpose. But in-depth knowledge is required so that the correct plugin can be installed. |
| Continuous Integration | For Continuous Integration, GoCD has some skeptical features as it is built especially for Continuous Deliver purpose. | Jenkins is specially built for CI purpose, and if need anything more than Continuous Integration plugins need to be installed. |
| Continuous Delivery | GoCD is specially developed on the Continuous Delivery principles that make it more preferable than any other tool. The pipeline concept can be applied with abstractions. To implement the CD fundamental pattern, there can be one way in GoCD without any plugin installation. | We can always implement the Continuous Delivery concept in Jenkins by installing a variety of community plugins. But Jenkin’s main aim is to support Continuous Integration because different types of plugins are required in combination, which can be easily broken or destroyed. |
| Plugins | GoCD supports Continuous Delivery scenarios in every smaller aspect without any single plugin installation. GoCD is more stable because you don’t have to worry about plugin configurations and settings. | Jenkins has a full ecosystem of plugins. It’s a little bit hectic to find the correct plugin sometimes, but Jenkins is configurable and extensible to unlimited possibilities by using plugins. |
| User Interface | GoCD interface is good, but it can be improved in many ways to make it user-friendly. | Jenkins has one of the easiest user interfaces for its users with proper details along with operations provided by a server. |
| Job Schedule | It doesn’t support facilities for scheduling tasks or jobs. | You can schedule any number of jobs in Jenkins by setting up a date and specific time. All jobs in Jenkins can be automated. |
| Service Level Agreement(SLA) | Different enterprise plans are available in paid support in GoCD. | As of now, no official support is available in Jenkins. |
| Build Environments | GoCD provides container support and builds environments such as Kubernetes and Docker, which help in Continuous Delivery support. | Jenkins has the same environment for all the builds you want to run, so it supports partial build environments because some plugins need to be installed manually. |
| Analytics | Value Stream Map in GoCD in one of the best feature which helps in tracking overall pipeline through every single stage from initial to the final phase of the deployment process. | All kind of status overview is available in Jenkins via a project called Blue Ocean. |
| Management | GoCD provides facilities that help the user in managing and assigning roles in the complete pipeline process. Also, you can create your user groups by adding people to it, and only those people can have access to control over the pipeline. | As Jenkins is self-hosted, so someone is manually handling instances in Jenkins such as management and configuration. But to find out where your build is failing, Jenkins can’t be solely responsible for it. |
| Language support: JavaScript & Ruby | Ruby and JavaScript are supported in GoCD via plugins like Gem and npm repository poller. | Jenkins partially supports Ruby and JavaScript because of various plugins and Ruby gems. RSpec test suites can be integrated as Jenkins understands Junit. |
Conclusion
To automate all the things in your software, then Jenkins should be your priority as it is used for the Continuous Integration process whereas, for the Continuous Development process, GoCD might be the best choice as it helps both beginners and experienced professionals in building development pipeline.
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