GitHub Actions vs Jenkins: Which is Better for Your CI/CD Pipeline?

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) have become essential for modern software development. They enable developers to release software faster, more reliably, and with fewer errors. Jenkins has long been the go-to tool for implementing CI/CD pipelines, but in recent years, GitHub Actions has emerged as a powerful alternative. In this blog post, we’ll compare GitHub Actions and Jenkins and help you decide which one is better suited for your needs.
(Example files for both are at the bottom of this page)

GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions is a platform for automating software development workflows. It allows you to build, test, and deploy your code right from your GitHub repository. With GitHub Actions, you can create custom workflows using a simple YAML syntax, and you can take advantage of the extensive library of pre-built actions available on the GitHub Marketplace.

Jenkins

Jenkins is an open-source automation server that helps automate parts of the software development process. It enables you to automate building, testing, and deploying your software. Jenkins provides a wide range of plugins that can be used to extend its functionality.

GitHub Actions vs Jenkins:

A Comparison

Let’s take a closer look at the differences between GitHub Actions and Jenkins in the table below:

As you can see, one of the biggest differences between GitHub Actions and Jenkins is the hosting. GitHub Actions is hosted on GitHub, while Jenkins needs to be self-hosted. Another significant difference is the way you configure the pipelines. GitHub Actions uses a YAML syntax, while Jenkins relies on a UI.

When it comes to integrations, GitHub Actions has a built-in integration with GitHub, making it easy to trigger workflows based on events like pull requests, issues, and pushes. Jenkins relies on plugins for integration, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Plugins can add a lot of functionality to Jenkins, but they can also introduce compatibility issues and can be difficult to manage.

Finally, GitHub Actions is free to use, while Jenkins is also free but requires a self-hosted infrastructure, which can add additional costs.

Example Files

Here are some example YAML files for both GitHub Actions and Jenkins.

GitHub Actions

name: Build and Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2
        with:
          node-version: '14.x'
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Build
        run: npm run build
      - name: Deploy
        uses: heroku/actions@v3
        with:
          heroku_app_name: my-heroku-app
          heroku_api_key: ${{ secrets.HEROKU_API_KEY }}

Jenkins

pipeline {
  agent any

  stages {
    stage('Build') {
      steps {
        sh 'npm install'
        sh 'npm run build'
      }
    }
    stage('Deploy') {
      steps {
        withCredentials([string(credentialsId: 'heroku-api-key', variable: 'HEROKU_API_KEY')]) {
          sh 'heroku container:push --app my-heroku-app web'
          sh 'heroku container:release --app my-heroku-app web'
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Conclusion

Github Actions can be configured with Github easily which makes it easy to work with.
Although Jenkins can be better at times because of its UI which makes it easy to configure.