GitLab CI alternatives, hosted and self-managed

We build CRACI, so weigh that in; we describe every option from its own documentation and say when another tool fits better. CRACI runs GitHub Actions today, and GitLab CI support is on the roadmap.

Why teams look beyond GitLab

GitLab is a complete DevSecOps platform: source control, merge requests, planning and CI/CD in one product, hosted on GitLab.com or self-managed. Basic SAST, secret detection and container scanning run in all tiers. For many teams, one vendor for the whole lifecycle is the point.

Teams look elsewhere when the trade-offs change:

• Tiers. Dependency scanning, continuous vulnerability scanning and the vulnerability report are in Ultimate. As of September 2026, Premium is $29 per user per month billed annually.
• Dependency evidence. GitLab detects dependencies from lockfiles, so its SBOM describes what the project declares, not what the build fetched.
• Operations. A self-managed instance is yours to upgrade, back up and secure.
• Consolidation. The rest of the company already works on GitHub or Azure DevOps.

What to look for

• Whether you are replacing CI/CD only, or source control too.
• Hosted, self-managed, or agents on your own machines under a hosted control plane.
• Operating systems you need, including Windows and macOS.
• Build evidence: SBOMs, provenance, and a record of what each job fetched.
• Egress control, and whether it is a policy on the job or network plumbing you maintain.

Hosted options

1. CRACI with GitHub Actions (our product)

CRACI is a secure runner for GitHub Actions. While each job runs, a package-aware proxy records what it fetched, including packages restored from CI caches, and produces a CycloneDX or SPDX SBOM with a completeness state per job and per cache. An egress policy is validated before the job starts and fails closed. CRACI's inventory view shows exactly which software versions are deployed to which products, globally.

Best for: teams moving to GitHub Actions that ship software and need to show what went into each release.

Consider if: you are moving code to GitHub. If you are staying on GitLab, GitLab CI support is on CRACI's roadmap. CRACI runs Linux jobs today; Windows and macOS are on the roadmap too.

CRACI vs GitLab CI

2. GitHub Actions

CI/CD built into GitHub, with hosted Linux, Windows and macOS runners and self-hosted runners for your own machines. Plans include 2,000 to 50,000 minutes a month, and a standard 2-core Linux runner is $0.006 per minute as of September 2026. Around it sit the dependency graph, Dependabot and artifact attestations.

Best for: teams moving source control to GitHub.

Consider if: you want hosted runners on every operating system. The SBOM it exports describes the repository, not the build.

CI/CD platforms compared

3. CircleCI

A mature hosted CI/CD platform that connects to GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket, so you can change CI without moving code. It runs jobs on Docker, Linux, Arm, Windows, macOS and GPU resource classes, with self-hosted runners for your own machines. As of September 2026, the Free plan includes 30,000 credits a month.

Best for: keeping GitLab for code and replacing only CI.

Consider if: you are happy to add SBOMs and scanning through orbs.

CRACI vs CircleCI

4. Buildkite

A hybrid platform that also works with GitLab: Buildkite's SaaS control plane orchestrates, and the agents that run jobs live on your own infrastructure, so source code and secrets stay in your environment. Hosted agents are available at $0.004 per vCPU minute on Linux as of September 2026.

Best for: builds that must run on your own hardware, without running the whole platform.

Consider if: you are ready to design build security yourself on your agents.

CRACI vs Buildkite

5. Azure Pipelines

The CI/CD part of Azure DevOps. It builds on Linux, macOS and Windows and works with Azure Repos and GitHub. As of September 2026, one Microsoft-hosted parallel job with 1,800 minutes a month is free, and each extra hosted job is $40 a month; one self-hosted job is free and each extra is $15.

Best for: teams consolidating on Azure and Microsoft tooling.

Azure Pipelines alternatives

6. Travis CI

A hosted CI service that connects to GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab and Assembla, with Linux on amd64 and arm64, macOS and Windows build environments, and Travis CI Server for on-premises or private cloud. It can generate SBOMs from the source code that triggers a build, with CycloneDX plugins and Syft. As of September 2026, the Usage plan starts at $15 per month with 35,000 Linux build credits, and Unlimited starts at $78 per month.

Best for: simple, config-driven builds across several source control hosts.

Travis CI alternatives

7. Bitbucket Pipelines

CI/CD built into Bitbucket Cloud. As of September 2026, Bitbucket is free for up to 5 users with 50 build minutes, Standard is $3.65 and Premium $7.25 per user per month, and 1,000 extra minutes cost $10. Self-hosted runners run on Linux, Windows and macOS, and their build minutes are not charged.

Best for: teams whose code and planning already live in Atlassian tools.

Bitbucket Pipelines alternatives

If you run self-managed GitLab

A self-managed instance usually exists because code and builds must stay on infrastructure you control. These options keep that. CRACI runs on managed infrastructure today; customer-hosted runners are on the roadmap for Enterprise. CRACI does not work with GitHub Enterprise Server today.

GitHub Enterprise Server

Self-hosted GitHub, with GitHub Actions. Actions is not enabled by default, it needs external blob storage (Azure Blob storage, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or MinIO), and it runs on self-hosted runners only: GitHub states that GitHub-hosted runners are not supported on Enterprise Server.

Best for: moving from self-managed GitLab to GitHub without leaving your own infrastructure.

Jenkins

The open source automation server, MIT licensed, with hundreds of plugins. You run the controller and agents, and you keep source control wherever it is, including GitLab.

Best for: full control, if you have the people to run and secure it.

Jenkins alternatives

TeamCity On-Premises

JetBrains' CI/CD server, installed on your own servers. As of September 2026, On-Premises Professional is free forever with 3 build agents and 100 build configurations, and Enterprise is about $2,783 (€2,399) per year with unlimited build configurations. TeamCity Cloud is the hosted version.

Best for: a self-hosted CI server with a free tier and JetBrains tooling.

TeamCity alternatives

Gitea

A self-hosted DevOps platform with a built-in CI/CD system, Gitea Actions, available since Gitea 1.19. Gitea describes it as "similar and mostly compatible to GitHub Actions". Jobs run on Gitea Runner, which is partly a hard fork of nektos/act.

Best for: a lighter self-hosted forge with GitHub Actions-style workflows.

Forgejo

A self-hosted, lightweight software forge from the non-profit Codeberg e.V., with Forgejo Actions built in. Forgejo says its Actions are designed to be familiar to GitHub Actions users but "not designed to be compatible", so workflows may need some changes.

Best for: a community-run, fully free software forge you host yourself.

Azure DevOps Server

Azure DevOps on-premises, with source control, work tracking and Azure Pipelines. Microsoft offers Azure DevOps Express free for five or fewer active users.

Best for: Microsoft-centric teams that must stay on-premises.

Side by side

"Not stated" means we could not confirm it in the vendor's public pages.

When to stay on GitLab

• One platform for code, planning, CI/CD and security scanning matters more than any single part of it.
• You rely on Ultimate's security dashboards and compliance features.
• Your self-managed instance runs well and you have the people for it.
• You can wait: GitLab CI support is on CRACI's roadmap, with no date yet.

Read more about CI/CD integration, build-time SBOM generation and pricing.

GitLab CI alternatives FAQ

Short answers to the questions teams ask when they compare

Which is better for CI, Jenkins or GitLab CI?

It depends on how much you want to run. GitLab CI comes with source control, merge requests, planning and basic security scanning in one product, hosted or self-managed. Jenkins is a free, MIT-licensed server with hundreds of plugins that works with most source control, and you host, upgrade and secure it yourself.

What is the best CI/CD platform?

There is no single best one; it depends on where your code lives and where builds must run. GitHub Actions fits code on GitHub, CircleCI fits mixed platforms and large test suites, Buildkite keeps agents on your own hardware, and Azure Pipelines fits teams on Microsoft tooling.

Can I keep GitLab for code and replace only CI?

Yes. CircleCI, Buildkite and Travis CI connect to GitLab, and Jenkins works with it through plugins, so you can change CI without moving code. GitHub Actions and Bitbucket Pipelines mean moving the code too.

Is there a self-hosted alternative to GitLab?

Yes. GitHub Enterprise Server, Gitea, Forgejo and Azure DevOps Server cover source control and CI/CD on your own infrastructure. For CI alone, Jenkins and TeamCity On-Premises run on your own servers.

Does CRACI work with GitLab CI?

Not yet. CRACI is a secure runner for GitHub Actions that records what each job fetched as an SBOM and enforces an egress policy. GitHub Actions is supported today, and GitLab CI support is on the roadmap with no date.