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CircleCI vs GitLab vs TeamCity comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of CircleCI is 3.6%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 8.4%, down from 17.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TeamCity is 5.8%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Build Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
GitLab8.4%
TeamCity5.8%
CircleCI3.6%
Other82.2%
Build Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Manas Kashyap - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer at Elevenxcapital
Automated parallel pipelines have accelerated deployments but complex configs still need simplification
CircleCI can be improved by making it less costly, as it is very expensive. The config complexity, like the YAML config, can become messy in complex projects. Making it simpler, much like having a Docker Compose YAML or Kubernetes YAML, is necessary from that perspective. Rather than keeping it a SaaS project, they can think of it through a Jenkins approach, where we can also self-host it into our environment, but it is acceptable. It is very expensive, and many organizations cannot afford it. The config complexity, like the YAML configs, can become messy in complex projects. A better DevOps person can only handle it, not a normal person. For that reason, I chose a rating of seven. It is quite expensive, to be honest. As mentioned, many organizations cannot afford it because of the parallel execution prices as well as the config complexity.
BasilJiji - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Role-based workflows have transformed daily deployments and improve team collaboration
GitLab has role-based access control, so when a team member needs to make a code change, they cannot directly apply it to the environment but must put in a merge request. Once a senior reviews the code and approves it, then it is implemented across the environment, making it safer and allowing everyone to experience the process. The best features GitLab offers are version control and automation, which are the major things that stand out to me. When it comes to access, the login is very smooth, with just one login integrated with our Okta, allowing everyone to log in easily. Deployments become much easier, and that is how GitLab helps. The automation features make my work easier because we use a tool called AWX, which is connected to GitLab. Whenever we run a job on AWX, it directly checks the code and uses it. Since the code is not preserved locally but kept in the cloud, it is safe and nobody can tamper with it. When it comes to safety, that is a major thing. Automation features allow the code to be accessed from any tools we use, so the jobs we run are helping tremendously and doing their work perfectly. For pipeline tasks, we have created a significant amount of pipelines, which are all hosted in GitLab. Running the pipelines has become much easier, and they are doing a perfect job, helping tremendously in our day-to-day activities. GitLab has positively impacted my organization because previously we stored code locally on servers, leading to many risks. Since GitLab came into our environment, our integration and deployments became much easier, helping our work become much smoother. Improvements from GitLab have led to better team collaboration because when several people are working, they can all edit the code and submit it as a merge request, and once approved, it reflects directly to the main branch. Many can work at the same time. When it comes to deployments, deploying has become much faster since we started using GitLab, and even if errors occur, we can spot them easily and troubleshoot, which has helped tremendously.
RG
IT Professional at NatWest Group
Versatile agent support boosts builds but UI and setup costs need refinement
TeamCity's user interface could be improved; specifically, the tree structure on the homepage is not clear, making it difficult to search for projects. Moreover, there are some limitations related to the version we were using. For instance, there were issues with agent specifications for particular build jobs and a timeout issue where jobs running longer than three hours would fail automatically.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's a stable product."
"The ability to automate the build process in a seamless way and run workflows effortlessly. It supports parallel builds so it can scale well. Also, it covers the basics of any build and integration tool, including email notifications (especially when tests are fixed), project insights, etc."
"CircleCI has positively impacted the organization, as it has been used for many years and serves as the main source for application deployment."
"Since I am an automation developer, I use selenium a lot; it is quite easy to run the tests in CircleCI, which comes with pre-installed Chrome/chrome driver and Firefox, is fast to set up, and has a shorter learning curve than Jenkins and TeamCity."
"Some of the most valuable features include container-based builds, integration with Bit Bucket and being able to store artifacts."
"Enables us to detect exactly which build failed and why, and to push multiple builds to our production environment at a very fast rate."
"The automation workflow in CircleCI related to third-party applications is very good and allows standardization of applications."
"CircleCI has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to build quicker and do things quicker."
"GitLab is kind of an image of GitHub, so it gives us the flexibility to monitor our changes in the repos."
"For us, Gitlab's most valuable feature is the integration with Cypress. We're using Cypress as an automation tool, so we're using GitLab as a tool for running in parallel."
"The stability of GitLab is impressive."
"The important feature is the entire process of versioning source code maintenance and easy deployment. It is a necessity for the CI/CD pipeline."
"GitLab is comparatively expensive, but it provides value because it's feature-rich."
"Everything is easy to configure and easy to work with."
"The solution's most valuable feature is that it is compatible with GitHub. The product's integration capabilities are sufficient for our small company of 35 people."
"They incorporate new features every September, and they have introduced their own code editor and AI features."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is its easy configuration. It also has multiple plugins that can be used especially for building .net applications."
"Time to deployment has been reduced in situations where we want to deploy to production or deploy breaking changes."
"TeamCity is more structured and user-friendly than other vendors."
"Good integration with IDE and JetBrains products."
"I have used Jenkins, TFS, Cruise Control .net, and GO, and I switched from using Cruise Control .net as TeamCity is easier to use and displays important information very well, with great support for integrating to other products from JetBrains and other vendors such as Atlassian, JIRA, and Windows AD."
"The solution has been fantastic for our organization due to the fact that we do not need a designer having to build the product and we don't need to figure out how to deploy it either, creating improved efficiencies which have saved us time and expense."
"Continuous integration has reduced build failures and highlighted issues sooner."
"TeamCity allows us to have self-sufficient development teams that can create their own builds and deployments."
 

Cons

"The solution’s pricing could be better."
"A return on investment with CircleCI has not been observed, and no relevant metrics such as time saved or fewer employees needed can be shared."
"There needs to be some improvement in the user interface of CircleCI."
"Integration with Microsoft Azure is one area for improvement. Azure is growing in its user base, and supports various cloud infrastructure components such as Service Fabric, App Service, etc."
"Billing is a mess."
"For half year we have used circleCI, then we go back to jenkins."
"CircleCI can be improved by making it less costly, as it is very expensive."
"Integration with Microsoft Azure is one area for improvement. Azure is growing in its user base, and supports various cloud infrastructure components such as Service Fabric, App Service, etc. Some of Azure’s deployment models (like Kudu) require a steep learning curve, but if CircleCI would come up with such features (deployment to App Service) out of the box, it would be amazing."
"GitLab would be improved with the addition of templates for deployment on local PCs."
"Expand features to match other tools such as a static code analysis tool so third-party integrations are not required."
"It would be better if there weren't any outages. There are occasions where we usually see a lot of outages using GitLab. It happens at least once a week or something like that. Whatever pipelines you're running, to check the logs, you need to have a different set of tools like Argus or something like that. If you have pipelines running on GitLab, you need a separate service deployed to view the logs, which is kind of a pain. If the logs can be used conveniently on GitLab, that would be definitely helpful. I'm not talking about the CI/CD pipelines but the back-end services and microservices deployed over GitLab. To view the logs for those microservices, you need to have separate log viewers, which is kind of a pain."
"GitLab is not responding quickly enough to our request. Technical support could be better and their response time needs improvement to respond more quickly."
"The licensing model could be improved to be more accommodating in terms of user numbers and costs."
"The pricing model of GitLab is an issue for me."
"One of my colleagues got in touch with them, and his response was that their technical support was not that great. The details that they provided for the question were not that great."
"The solution could improve by having better integration."
"The UI for this solution could be improved. New users don't find it easy to navigate. The need some level of training to understand the ins and the outs."
"Features I would like to see in TeamCity: Allow for shared resource locks across multiple build configurations (i.e. deploy then run integration tests against the same environment)."
"Deployment functions need work."
"Last time I used it, dotnet compilation had to be done via PowerShell scripts. There was actually a lot that had to be scripted."
"If TeamCity could create more out of the box solutions to make it more user friendly and create more use cases, that would be ideal."
"REST API support lacks many features in customization of builds, jobs, and settings."
"This product lacks real reporting for all the information it captures; we should be able to create reports or dashboards for management."
"The integration between other solutions and TeamCity could be smoother."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of CircleCI could be less expensive."
"There are different licensing options available, including a free limited-user license."
"The solution's standard license is paid annually. They have changed the pricing model and it used to be better. There is a free version available."
"The price of GitLab could be better, it is expensive."
"Regarding pricing, I would rate GitLab as moderately priced, maybe around a seven or eight out of ten. It could be more flexible for clients but generally offers good value."
"I think that we pay approximately $100 USD per month."
"This product is not very expensive but the price can be better."
"I'm not aware of the licensing costs because those were covered by the customer."
"The solution's pricing is acceptable."
"Start with the free tier for a few build configs and see how it works for you, then according to your scale find the enterprise license which fits you the most."
"The licensing is on an annual basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise46
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CircleCI?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I only used CircleCI on the free tier.
What needs improvement with CircleCI?
CircleCI can be improved by making it less costly, as it is very expensive. The config complexity, like the YAML conf...
What advice do you have for others considering CircleCI?
My advice to others looking into using CircleCI is to just not get overwhelmed by the complexity, particularly the co...
What do you like most about GitLab?
I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitLab?
The setup cost was moderate and not very high. For GitLab SaaS, the initial setup cost was minimal, while self-manage...
What needs improvement with GitLab?
A pain point I have encountered with GitLab is that large GitLab-ci.yml files become hard to read and maintain. YAML ...
What do you like most about TeamCity?
One of the most beneficial features for us is the flexibility it offers in creating deployment steps tailored to diff...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TeamCity?
Compared to new technologies, TeamCity is more expensive and is an older tool compared to tools like GitLab.
What needs improvement with TeamCity?
TeamCity's user interface could be improved; specifically, the tree structure on the homepage is not clear, making it...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shopify, Zenefits, Concur Technologies, CyberAgent
1. NASA  2. IBM  3. Sony  4. Alibaba  5. CERN  6. Siemens  7. Volkswagen  8. ING  9. Ticketmaster  10. SpaceX  11. Adobe  12. Intuit  13. Autodesk  14. Rakuten  15. Unity Technologies  16. Pandora  17. Electronic Arts  18. Nordstrom  19. Verizon  20. Comcast  21. Philips  22. Deutsche Telekom  23. Orange  24. Fujitsu  25. Ericsson  26. Nokia  27. General Electric  28. Cisco  29. Accenture  30. Deloitte  31. PwC  32. KPMG
Toyota, Xerox, Apple, MIT, Volkswagen, HP, Twitter, Expedia
Find out what your peers are saying about GitLab, Google, GitHub and others in Build Automation. Updated: March 2026.
885,789 professionals have used our research since 2012.