Knapsack Pro
Knapsack Pro
Gitlab CIhttps://about.gitlab.com/product/continuous-integration/ |
Github Actionshttps://github.com/features/actions |
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| Unique feature |
AutoDev Ops / Allows keeping code management and CI in the same place
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Best GitHub integration possible
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| Type of product |
SaaS / On Premise
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SaaS / On Premise
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| Offers a free plan |
Yes Very generous free plans for both the SaaS version as well as the on premise version. |
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. |
| Predictable pricing |
Yes Clear and affordable pricing for both SaaS and self-hosted versions. |
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) |
| Support / SLA |
Yes All paid plans include next business day support. |
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. |
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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 Easily configure jobs you want to be run in parallel via the YML config file (gitlab-ci.yml) |
Yes Matrix builds allow concurrent jobs, even multi-platform. |
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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 |
Yes
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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. |
| Containers support / Build environment |
Yes The Docker Container Registry is integrated into GitLab by default |
Yes Linux, macOS, Windows, and containers, or run directly in a VM. |
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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
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Yes Minimal status overview definitely available, with live logs and GitHub integration. Unclear how far it goes. |
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Management support
How easy is it to manage users / projects / assign roles and permissions and so on |
Yes
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N/A Unclear from the available documentation |
| Self-hosted option |
Yes
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Yes Coming soon, not available yet. |
| Hosted plans / SaaS |
Yes
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Yes
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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 Defined via YML config files |
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) |
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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. |
Yes
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N/A Unclear from the available documentation |
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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
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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 |
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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 Although not built into GitLab CI by default, the Docker support allows solving any Ruby specific need that may arise. |
Yes Unclear how, but they mention Ruby support specifically on the homepage |
| Specific language support: JavaScript |
Yes Although not built into GitLab CI by default, the Docker support allows solving any Javascript specific need that may arise. |
Yes Unclear how, but they mention Javascript (Node.js) support specifically on the homepage |
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Integrations
1st party support for common tools (like Slack notifications, various VCS platforms, etc) |
Yes Plenty of third party integrations available throughout GitLab, most notably Kubernetes and GitHub, but also plenty of others: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/integration/README.html |
Yes Integrations made possible via the shared third party workflows available (AWS, Azure, Zeit, Kubernetes and many more) |
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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 |
Yes Provides a REST API and a (new) GraphQL API, with plans to maintain the GraphQL API only going forward. Allows doing almost anything that can be done via the interface, at least in terms of CI needs. |
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) |
| Auditing |
Yes
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N/A
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| Additional notes |
The Auto DevOps feature might be interesting to people looking for a very hands-off experience with getting a CI/CD process up and running https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/ |
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