Github Actions vs Drone comparison of Continuous Integration servers

	Github Actions https://github.com/features/actions	Drone https://drone.io
Unique feature	Best GitHub integration possible	Customization
Type of product	SaaS / On Premise	SaaS / On Premise
Offers a free plan	Yes The on premise plan (not yet available) will be free, 2000 build minutes included in the free cloud plan. Completely free plan for open source projects.	Yes The cloud version is free for open source projects. Also offers a free plan for any project, with a limit of 5000 builds per year. The on-premise version is available as a Docker image.
Predictable pricing	Yes (partial) While it's clear what the cost is (priced per build-minute), figuring out costs can be a hassle, especially as the price can vary quite a bit depending on commits to the project. One advantage for GitHub Actions is that the tiers define a maximum amount of minutes, so it's easier to predict the final cost. You can also purchase aditional runners with pricing dependent on the platform (MacOS, Linux, Windows)	Yes Predictable pricing based on number of users and repositories. They have a calculator to help determine cost.
Support / SLA	Yes Community support available for any tier, unclear at what point and if dedicated support is available. Safe to assume that eneterprise clients can access technical support.	N/A It's not clear what their support commitment is. They have a fairly active community on Discourse, for community support.
Paralellism Every CI servers tends to address this differently (parallel, distributed, build matrix). Some of it is just marketing, and some is just nuance. For this table, parallel means that tasks can be run concurrently on the same machine, distributed means that tasks can be scaled horizontally, on multiple machines How to split tests in parallel in the optimal way with Knapsack Pro	Yes Matrix builds allow concurrent jobs, even multi-platform.	Yes Pipeline task configuration allows running tasks in parallel
Distributed builds distributed means that tasks can be scaled horizontally, on multiple machines How to split tests in parallel in the optimal way with Knapsack Pro	N/A No specific mention, but given the fact that tasks can be run on multiple platforms, it's likely that distributed builds are also available.	Yes Pipelines can be configured to run on multiple machines, although they recommend that to be an option only if paralellizing tasks and scaling vertically doesn't suffice. They even support multi-platform distribution (ie: running tasks on various operating systems)
Containers support / Build environment	Yes Linux, macOS, Windows, and containers, or run directly in a VM.	Yes By default, they offer Docker support for the CI/CD job runners.
Analytics / Status overview Analytics and overview referrs to the ability to, at a glance, see what's breaking (be it a certain task, or the build for a specific project)	Yes Minimal status overview definitely available, with live logs and GitHub integration. Unclear how far it goes.	Yes
Management support How easy is it to manage users / projects / assign roles and permissions and so on	N/A Unclear from the available documentation	Yes They offer in-depth documentation for user and server management. A lot of it can be done via the drone CLI tool, which seems to be the focal point of the docs.
Self-hosted option	Yes Coming soon, not available yet.	Yes
Hosted plans / SaaS	Yes	Yes
Build pipelines A continuous delivery pipeline is a description of the process that the software goes through from a new code commit, through testing and other statical analysis steps all the way to the end-users of the product.	Yes Called GitHub Action Workflows, they are defined in separate Docker containers, using the YAML syntax (they used to support HCL, but they're migrating away from that)	Yes Easily configurable pipelines via YML files.
Reports Reports are about the abilty to see specific reports (like code coverage or custom ones), but not necesarily tied in into a larger dashboard.	N/A Unclear from the available documentation	N/A
Ecosystem Besides the official documentation and software, is there a large community using this product? Are there any community-driven tools / plugins that you can use?	Yes Thanks to the large following, GitHub Actions already enjoys a wide varierty of available pre-made workflows, which you can browse right on the homepage: https://github.com/features/actions	Yes Drone CI allows integrating plugins into the CI/CD process. They have a list of available community plugins and provide documentation on building your own. Plugins are Docker containers which plug directly into the CI/CD process.
Specific language support: Ruby Some CI servers have built-in support for parsing RSpec or Istanbul output for example and we mention those. Some others make it even easier by detecting Gemfiles or package.json and automate parts of the process for the developer.	Yes Unclear how, but they mention Ruby support specifically on the homepage	No (partial) No specific support, but they do provide sufficient documentation on getting a Ruby project up and running, including a multi-platform example.
Specific language support: JavaScript	Yes Unclear how, but they mention Javascript (Node.js) support specifically on the homepage	No (partial) No specific 1st party support, but the plugin marketplace features an NPM authoring and an NPM authentication plugin.
Integrations 1st party support for common tools (like Slack notifications, various VCS platforms, etc)	Yes Integrations made possible via the shared third party workflows available (AWS, Azure, Zeit, Kubernetes and many more)	Yes Integrates well with source code management platforms (1st party support for GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket) as well as other systems via 3rd party plugins.
API Custom integreation is available, via an API or otherwise, it's mentioned separately as it allows further customization than any of the Ecosystem/Integration options	N/A Unclear at the moment, but assume GitHub Actions will be integrated with the GitHub GraphQL API (one of the more mature GraphQL API implementations available)	Yes Drone provides a feature-rich REST API, as well as an official Go SDK for it.
Auditing	N/A	Yes
Additional notes		The fact that Drone works with any source code manager, as well as the fact that it can run tasks on multiple platforms makes it stand out from the rest. Very nifty!

Github Actions

https://github.com/features/actions

Drone

https://drone.io

Unique feature

Best GitHub integration possible

Customization

Type of product

SaaS / On Premise

Offers a free plan

Yes

The on premise plan (not yet available) will be free, 2000 build minutes included in the free cloud plan. Completely free plan for open source projects.

Yes

The cloud version is free for open source projects. Also offers a free plan for any project, with a limit of 5000 builds per year. The on-premise version is available as a Docker image.

Predictable pricing

Yes (partial)

While it's clear what the cost is (priced per build-minute), figuring out costs can be a hassle, especially as the price can vary quite a bit depending on commits to the project. One advantage for GitHub Actions is that the tiers define a maximum amount of minutes, so it's easier to predict the final cost. You can also purchase aditional runners with pricing dependent on the platform (MacOS, Linux, Windows)

Yes

Predictable pricing based on number of users and repositories. They have a calculator to help determine cost.

Support / SLA

Yes

Community support available for any tier, unclear at what point and if dedicated support is available. Safe to assume that eneterprise clients can access technical support.

N/A

It's not clear what their support commitment is. They have a fairly active community on Discourse, for community support.

Paralellism
Every CI servers tends to address this differently (parallel, distributed, build matrix). Some of it is just marketing, and some is just nuance. For this table, parallel means that tasks can be run concurrently on the same machine, distributed means that tasks can be scaled horizontally, on multiple machines
How to split tests in parallel in the optimal way with Knapsack Pro

Yes

Matrix builds allow concurrent jobs, even multi-platform.

Yes

Pipeline task configuration allows running tasks in parallel

Distributed builds
distributed means that tasks can be scaled horizontally, on multiple machines
How to split tests in parallel in the optimal way with Knapsack Pro

N/A

No specific mention, but given the fact that tasks can be run on multiple platforms, it's likely that distributed builds are also available.

Yes

Pipelines can be configured to run on multiple machines, although they recommend that to be an option only if paralellizing tasks and scaling vertically doesn't suffice. They even support multi-platform distribution (ie: running tasks on various operating systems)

Containers support / Build environment

Yes

Linux, macOS, Windows, and containers, or run directly in a VM.

Yes

By default, they offer Docker support for the CI/CD job runners.

Analytics / Status overview
Analytics and overview referrs to the ability to, at a glance, see what's breaking (be it a certain task, or the build for a specific project)

Yes

Minimal status overview definitely available, with live logs and GitHub integration. Unclear how far it goes.

Yes

Management support
How easy is it to manage users / projects / assign roles and permissions and so on

N/A

Unclear from the available documentation

Yes

They offer in-depth documentation for user and server management. A lot of it can be done via the drone CLI tool, which seems to be the focal point of the docs.

Self-hosted option

Yes

Coming soon, not available yet.

Yes

Hosted plans / SaaS

Yes

Build pipelines
A continuous delivery pipeline is a description of the process that the software goes through from a new code commit, through testing and other statical analysis steps all the way to the end-users of the product.

Yes

Called GitHub Action Workflows, they are defined in separate Docker containers, using the YAML syntax (they used to support HCL, but they're migrating away from that)

Yes

Easily configurable pipelines via YML files.

Reports
Reports are about the abilty to see specific reports (like code coverage or custom ones), but not necesarily tied in into a larger dashboard.

N/A

Unclear from the available documentation

N/A

Ecosystem
Besides the official documentation and software, is there a large community using this product? Are there any community-driven tools / plugins that you can use?

Yes

Thanks to the large following, GitHub Actions already enjoys a wide varierty of available pre-made workflows, which you can browse right on the homepage: https://github.com/features/actions

Yes

Drone CI allows integrating plugins into the CI/CD process. They have a list of available community plugins and provide documentation on building your own. Plugins are Docker containers which plug directly into the CI/CD process.

Specific language support: Ruby
Some CI servers have built-in support for parsing RSpec or Istanbul output for example and we mention those. Some others make it even easier by detecting Gemfiles or package.json and automate parts of the process for the developer.

Yes

Unclear how, but they mention Ruby support specifically on the homepage

No (partial)

No specific support, but they do provide sufficient documentation on getting a Ruby project up and running, including a multi-platform example.

Specific language support: JavaScript

Yes

Unclear how, but they mention Javascript (Node.js) support specifically on the homepage

No (partial)

No specific 1st party support, but the plugin marketplace features an NPM authoring and an NPM authentication plugin.

Integrations
1st party support for common tools (like Slack notifications, various VCS platforms, etc)

Yes

Integrations made possible via the shared third party workflows available (AWS, Azure, Zeit, Kubernetes and many more)

Yes

Integrates well with source code management platforms (1st party support for GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket) as well as other systems via 3rd party plugins.

API
Custom integreation is available, via an API or otherwise, it's mentioned separately as it allows further customization than any of the Ecosystem/Integration options

N/A

Unclear at the moment, but assume GitHub Actions will be integrated with the GitHub GraphQL API (one of the more mature GraphQL API implementations available)

Yes

Drone provides a feature-rich REST API, as well as an official Go SDK for it.

Auditing

N/A

Yes

Additional notes

The fact that Drone works with any source code manager, as well as the fact that it can run tasks on multiple platforms makes it stand out from the rest. Very nifty!

Github Actions vs Drone comparison of Continuous Integration servers
What are the differences between Github Actions and Drone?

Github Actions

Drone

GitHub Actions testing Ruby on Rails with RSpec and parallel jobs (matrix feature)

How to run Jest tests on GitHub Actions - JS parallel jobs with matrix feature (NodeJS YAML config)

GitHub Actions Cypress.io E2E testing parallel jobs with matrix feature (NodeJS YAML config)

Github Actions parallelism integration

Start using Knapsack Pro with Github Actions or Drone

Sign up and speed up your tests.

Github Actions vs Drone comparison of Continuous Integration servers What are the differences between Github Actions and Drone?

Github Actions

Drone

GitHub Actions testing Ruby on Rails with RSpec and parallel jobs (matrix feature)

How to run Jest tests on GitHub Actions - JS parallel jobs with matrix feature (NodeJS YAML config)

GitHub Actions Cypress.io E2E testing parallel jobs with matrix feature (NodeJS YAML config)

Github Actions parallelism integration

Start using Knapsack Pro with Github Actions or Drone

Sign up and speed up your tests.

Github Actions vs Drone comparison of Continuous Integration servers
What are the differences between Github Actions and Drone?