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CircleCI vs Spacelift comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

CircleCI
Ranking in AI Software Development
180th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Build Automation (13th)
Spacelift
Ranking in AI Software Development
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the AI Software Development category, the mindshare of CircleCI is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spacelift is 0.4%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Software Development Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Spacelift0.4%
CircleCI0.2%
Other99.4%
AI Software Development
 

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.
Sudheer Kumar Jamjam - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead Cloud DevOps Engineer at Deloitte
Everything can be visibly managed, scheduling and state management features are pretty good
We've integrated it with source control management tools like GitLab and Bitbucket. The scheduling and state management features are pretty good using Spacelift. It integrates with tools like Terraform and Kubernetes for policies, but we haven't worked on the compliance part. Spacelift streamlines collaboration among our development and operations teams. We use it for CI/CD as well. It can handle automation strategies. Whenever you put your YAML files and integrate them with Spacelift, it will scan the code and show where you need to make changes.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"CircleCI has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to build quicker and do things quicker."
"The automation workflow in CircleCI related to third-party applications is very good and allows standardization of applications."
"For us, this translates to high degree of productivity, ability to detect exactly which build failed and why, and being able 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 the organization, as it has been used for many years and serves as the main source for application deployment."
"The solution offers continuous integration and continuous delivery."
"CircleCI has positively impacted my organization by bringing in faster deployments, which means we can release faster, receive quicker feedback, and enhance collaboration and communication across the entire team."
"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."
"A valuable feature of Spacelift is that you can attach labels, and it is a modernized tool for infrastructure deployments. It is pull request-based, and you can see all the Terraform plan and apply logs on the pull request itself, which is not available across any other CI/CD tools."
"Knowing the HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) makes it easier to use without issues."
"I appreciate that I just have to connect to my AWS account with my credentials, and Spacelift handles the rest."
"Spacelift is like an extension of Terraform, where everything can be visibly managed."
"One key feature is the Spacelift policies, which we can attach to deployments to ensure compliance with our standards."
 

Cons

"I rated CircleCI six out of ten because I think they need more transparency in pricing, as there are instances of unclear network data transfer and storage costs related to caching and workspaces."
"For half year we have used circleCI, then we go back to jenkins."
"There needs to be some improvement in the user interface of CircleCI."
"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."
"The solution’s pricing could be better."
"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."
"CircleCI can be improved by making it less costly, as it is very expensive."
"Billing is a mess."
"Spacelift currently lacks features that can help with complex type deployments and coordination for major deployments."
"The self-hosted version does not have a lot of features compared to the SaaS version, such as cloud integrations for Azure and GCP."
"Synchronization can be difficult when using older and newer versions with Kubernetes and HashiCorp."
"If you are a small enterprise organization, below 500 people, I would not recommend it."
"In the free version, there's no straightforward way to be notified once a deployment is finished."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of CircleCI could be less expensive."
"It is a bit expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
No data available
 

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 config, can become messy in complex projects. Making it simpler, much like having a ...
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 config complexity. Just try to learn it, as now AI tools will definitely be there ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spacelift?
I've never checked the pricing because I enjoy using it for free. Besides the notification feature, I haven't needed any paid features.
What needs improvement with Spacelift?
There are a few areas for improvement. For instance, getting notification webhooks is not easy. In the free version, there's no straightforward way to be notified once a deployment is finished. Spa...
What is your primary use case for Spacelift?
I use Spacelift to deploy my applications, particularly AWS applications and infrastructure to my personal AWS account.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shopify, Zenefits, Concur Technologies, CyberAgent
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about CircleCI vs. Spacelift and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.