Comparing Jenkins with Azure DevOps – Finding the Best Fit

Every company comes with separate project teams to facilitate project needs and meet requirements for continuous integration and delivery. The perfect DevOps environment is incomplete without the integration of CI/CD. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery are building blocks of the DevOps environment and help make programming easier.

CI or continuous integration happens when engineering teams make frequent changes to the code. Each code integration is tested and verified to remove errors in the future. Continuous Delivery or CD is a delivery mechanism that automates the pipeline for additional results.

Whenever we talk of CI/CD mechanisms, Jenkins and Azure DevOps are the first tools that come to mind. In this article, we take a look at both Jenkins and Azure DevOps and compare them to find the best option for CI/CD mechanism. Stay with us as we find the right solution for your organization’s future.

What is Jenkins?

For those who aren’t aware of it, Jenkins is an AI automation tool that works on Java and comes with plugins and other integration support. Jenkins is open-source in nature, meaning almost anyone can use it to drive results.

Jenkins is primarily used to speed up things in your software delivery process, allowing developers to integrate and work on changes during the course of the project rather than waiting for the project to end to send in new changes. Jenkins is also used across different platforms and isn’t dependent on one single platform.

Features of Jenkins:

Jenkins comes with the following features to help developers come up with a seamless development strategy:

• Jenkins is extremely to customize and set up. You can meet the needs of your software project by customizing the solution to match the exact scenario.
• Jenkins comes with multiple plugins that give you the versatility to code according to the need of the situation.
• Jenkins can deliver code immediately, without any delays whatsoever.
• Jenkins can come up with reports after the implementation process is over.
• Jenkins is perfect for integration with other apps and coding platforms because the process is managed almost automatically.
• Jenkins checks the base of the coding process by highlighting any/all errors involved in your code. The platform can test and detect issues in the coding process and solve them before it gets too late.
• Jenkins comes with the perfect community to help provide answers and supports where needed.
• The open-source nature of the application makes it perfect for free usage.
• Security is top-notch with server security available.
• Jenkins provides an Agile software development solution together with Docker’s collaboration tool.

Pros and Cons of Jenkins:

Jenkins comes with certain pros and cons, including;

Pros:

• Jenkins comes with almost immediate code issue detection. The platform works around the clock to detect issues immediately and provide a safe coding experience at all times.
• The plugins available for Jenkins are flexible in nature and help automate different solutions.
• The implementation processes are automated in nature and save time/resources.
• Jenkins can work across all programs and platforms and isn’t dependent on one solution.
• Jenkins is easy to use and user-friendly in nature.
• The platform is extremely easy to work on. The code reports can be customized and modified to your particular use-case.

Cons:

• Jenkins doesn’t come with any collaboration resources of its own. You will have to depend upon other solutions for collaborations.
• Unpredictable pricing structure.
• You need to maintain your app’s infrastructure at your own end.
• There are a few problems in the updating process.
• The dashboard for Jenkins is particularly hard to understand.
• The solution isn’t easy to configure for newbie developers.

Understanding Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps is a SaaS solution by Microsoft. The service is used to develop applications using Azure functions. Azure’s pipeline is used to develop apps and test, manage, and implement solutions. Backed by Microsoft, Azure’s solution is readily available and you can start coding on it almost immediately.

Features of Azure DevOps:

Some of the features you can enjoy with Azure DevOps include:

• Azure DevOps works on the Agile and Scrum methodology to provide better workflow management.
• The installation process for Azure is easy and stand-alone in nature.
• Azure DevOps provides specific templates to use for your software development pipeline. The templates are tested and used elsewhere.
• Azure DevOps can significantly improve your workplace organization, providing the tools and solutions you need to organize all your resources in one place.

Pros and Cons of Azure DevOps

We now look at some of the pros and cons of using Azure DevOps for your software solution:

Pros:

• You can easily set up Azure DevOps in a matter of minutes.
• Azure DevOps comes with a unique pipeline template that can integrate with Git and GitHub.
• Azure Pipelines can also be integrated with the Azure’s Cloud Solution
• Azure provides support to many programming languages like Node, Java, Python, Php, and .Net.
• You can run multiple applications with Azure DevOps at one time.
• Azure DevOps comes with Agile support.
• You can save both money and resources with DevOps solutions by Azure.
• Can run on multiple frameworks

Cons:

• The Azure DevOps UI comes without a built-in safety analyzer
• The secret management system is not upgraded
• The solution provides no additional support for YAML publications
• Integrating the solution with non-Microsoft solutions is difficult.

Your choice between Azure DevOps and Jenkins comes down to the requirements of your project and team. Azure DevOps is more scalable in nature, while Jenkins is known to be more flexible. If you use both tools together, Azure Pipelines can be integrated with Jenkins.