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Best Free Alternatives to CircleCI
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Category: DevOps / CI/CDVerified for 2025
Top Recommended Replacements
GitHub Actions
FREEBest Integrated Experience
Why we like it
2,000 free minutes/month for private repos (unlimited for public); deep integration with your code (no context switching); marketplace has 20,000+ pre-built actions.
Keep in mind
New 2025/2026 pricing model may introduce fees for private self-hosted runners; caching is slower than CircleCI's optimized engines.
Woodpecker CI
Best Open Source Alternative
Why we like it
A community fork of Drone CI; runs entirely on Docker containers (simple plugin system); completely free and lightweight; you own the pipeline and the infrastructure.
Keep in mind
Smaller ecosystem than GitHub/CircleCI; requires self-hosting the server.
Gitea Actions
Best Self-Hosted GitHub Clone
Why we like it
Allows you to run GitHub Actions workflows on your own server for $0; compatible with most existing GitHub Actions (uses 'act' runner); total privacy and control.
Keep in mind
Still maturing (some complex GitHub Actions features aren't fully supported); requires managing the Gitea instance.
Dagger.io
Best for Programmable Pipelines
Why we like it
Replaces 'YAML hell' with real code (Go, Python, TypeScript); pipelines run exactly the same on your laptop as they do in CI; creates a portable engine that works on any cloud.
Keep in mind
Steeper learning curve (requires coding knowledge, not just config); it is an engine, so you still need a runner (like GitHub Actions) to trigger it.
GitLab CI (Free Tier)
FREEBest All-in-One DevOps
Why we like it
Industry-leading pipeline visualization; 'Auto DevOps' features; free tier includes 400 compute minutes; built-in container registry and security scanning.
Keep in mind
Strict 5-user limit on the free tier for private namespaces; slower runners on the free tier.
Harness CI
FREEBest for Enterprise Speed
Why we like it
Uses 'Test Intelligence' to run only the tests relevant to your code change (saving massive time/money); 4x faster than GitHub Actions in benchmarks.
Keep in mind
The 'Team' plan is expensive ($50/developer); focused on large enterprise governance.
Ubicloud / WarpBuild
Best Cost-Saver for GitHub Actions
Why we like it
Drop-in replacements for GitHub's default runners; 10x cheaper ($0.0008/min vs $0.008/min) and often 2x faster; requires changing just one line of code in your workflow.
Keep in mind
You are trusting a third-party vendor with your code execution; newer reliability track record than GitHub/AWS.
Jenkins
Best Legacy Classic
Why we like it
100% free forever; 1,800+ plugins; the ultimate 'do anything' tool if you have a dedicated DevOps engineer to manage it.
Keep in mind
Interface is dated (2010 era); high maintenance burden ('Jenkins Server is down' is a common meme).
Codeberg CI
FREEBest for Privacy/Non-Profit
Why we like it
A non-profit, community-driven alternative to GitHub; includes Woodpecker CI integration for free; perfect for open-source projects that want to avoid 'Big Tech'.
Keep in mind
Not suitable for private corporate code; slower infrastructure.
Buddy.works
FREEBest Visual Builder
Why we like it
The easiest UI in the market; build pipelines by dragging and dropping actions; free tier includes 120 executions/month; great for web agencies.
Keep in mind
Free tier is very limited; scaling up gets expensive quickly compared to raw runner providers.
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