TeamCity vs Jenkins, an overview.

TeamCity and Jenkins are two of the most used CI’s out there, and having used both of them I have a pretty solid idea of the pros and cons of each one and I’ll list some of them in this post according to my experience using both products.

Jenkins:

Jenkins was the first CI I’ve used and I must admit is a really good product, even more when you think that is an open source project and you don’t have to pay anything to use it.

Pros:

• Very easy to use.
• Backed up by a huge community.
• Lots of plugins to choose from.
• Open source.

Cons:

• Some server instability (at least when installed in a windows machine).
• Outdated interface.
• Node js plugin doesn’t work on windows machine installations yet (This was the main reason for me to start using TeamCity 🙂 )

So if your an opensource enthusiast this might be the right tool for you. It’s a very mature product with lots of plugins providing all the heavy lifting for you and an enormous community to help you as well.

 

TeamCity:

TeamCity developed by JetBrains is the CI I now use the most. Although the reason for me to start using TeamCity wasn’t at first related to its features, I’m glad I choose to use TeamCity. The simplicity and ease of usage caught my attention from the first day.

Although being a commercial product, meaning you have to pay for it, you have 20 builds and 3 free agent installations, which should be enough for you to start using it and show the business guys how awesome it is, so you can ask for the license purchase :). Also, if you work on a startup you get 50% discount, and if you’re working on an open source project the license is free.

Pros:

• Very easy to install and maintain.
• Lots of plugins to choose from.
• Multi-platform builds.
• Excellent backup functionality.
• Excellent source control support.

Cons:

• Free edition limited to 20 builds.
• Built in Java, meaning that if you want to create your own plugin you have to know java.

 

Having used both of them, and still use them both in my current company, I tend to prefer TeamCity over Jenkins mainly because TeamCity is so easy to use and it behaves better under node js deployments, which gives it a bit of an edge over Jenkins, not to mention the ancient Jenkins interface :).

But don’t understand me wrong, Jenkins is an awesome CI and should be always considered as a viable option.