GitHub Actions vs Travis CI comparison

GitHub and Travis CI are both solutions in the Build Automation category. GitHub is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5, while Travis CI is ranked #21 with an average rating of 6.0. GitHub holds a 11.4% mindshare in BA, compared to Travis CI’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of GitHub users are willing to recommend the solution.

GitHub Actions

Read 22 GitHub Actions reviews

2,804 Views
2,804 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Travis CI

Read 2 Travis CI reviews

386 Views
386 Comparison Views

0% willing to recommend

GitHub Actions

Travis CI

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Travis CI and GitHub Actions compete in CI/CD tools, offering automated software testing and deployment. GitHub Actions has an advantage due to its seamless integration with GitHub repositories and a broader feature set, appealing to those within the GitHub ecosystem.

Features: Travis CI supports various languages and platforms, offers parallel job execution, and has strong debugging capabilities. GitHub Actions allows extensive customization with pre-built actions, built-in repository integration, and workflow automation features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Travis CI features straightforward deployment with simple setups and intuitive pipelines. It has comprehensive documentation and responsive customer service. GitHub Actions simplifies deployment for GitHub repositories with a streamlined, integrated approach, supported by GitHub's broader ecosystem.

Pricing and ROI: Travis CI offers transparent pricing with a free tier for open-source projects, making it flexible and cost-effective. GitHub Actions provides free usage for public repositories, useful for GitHub-centric projects, enhancing ROI despite potentially higher long-term costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Build Automation Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

July 2025

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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

GitHub Actions

Ranking in Build Automation

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Travis CI

Ranking in Build Automation

21st

Average Rating

6.0

Reviews Sentiment

3.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of GitHub Actions is 11.4%, up from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Travis CI is 1.0%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan

Senior DevOps Engineer at Alibaba Group

Integration with various environments and cloud providers enhances automation

I use GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines. I automate infrastructure, deployment, and all processes. Most companies use CI/CD pipelines, and GitHub Actions is one of the tools available for this purpose The most valuable feature of GitHub Actions is that it is completely free. It can be integrated…

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Pravar Agrawal

Senior SRE at IBM

YAML-based configuration and simple deployment but user interface needs modernizing

Travis CI is an okay tool, and I am forced to use it as part of my job. I don't maintain it; it is running somewhere else, and I don't have control over it. The interface is very basic and not user-friendly; it feels like it was stuck in 2010. It is very basic and designed for lightweight CI work, and it cannot handle heavy CI. You cannot do branched flows, and you will have to write shell scripts to send calls here and there. The pipelines are not as detailed as some other CI/CD tools. If Travis is down, you don't have any control over it and need to reach out to their customer support.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"GitHub Actions helps automate the deployment process, eliminating manual copying and testing, which saves time and minimizes errors."

"GitHub Actions can be easily configured, especially for environment variables and secrets. The UI is understandable and user-friendly for setting up CI/CD pipelines. I prefer tools like GitLab, where the pipeline starts quickly and is accessible near the commits for easy access. However, many CI/CD tools are interchangeable due to similar features of GitHub Actions and other similar tools."

"I am familiar with the entire life cycle of the product."

"I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to just 8 to 10 minutes through these optimizations."

"It is easy to use, especially if you are accustomed to using GitHub."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a good product that offers stability and performance."

"The level of automation achievable is really good. So, the custom workflow creation and Marketplace Actions improved our project's efficiency."

"The most valuable feature of GitHub Actions is the ability to automate various tasks, such as backups and deployments, to ease the development workflow."

More GitHub Actions pros

"The only thing I like about Travis CI is that you have a YAML file to define a Travis flow."

Cons

"The minor drawback of GitHub Actions is the management of the dashboard and pipeline runs, which needs improvement. The dashboard for running pipelines could be better."

"GitHub sometimes makes it difficult to debug actions."

"The main improvement would be to add support for more programming languages and frameworks."

"The UI could be better."

"Sometimes it is quite complex to commit code from our local system to the GitHub repository; creating a folder in GitHub can be tedious."

"We still use Jenkins for some tasks, which suggests there may be areas for improvement in GitHub Actions."

"Improvements could be made in terms of time-saving capabilities and resolving potential complexities in centralized workflows."

"The main challenge I've experienced is with integration, particularly uploading to OneDrive, which was more complex compared to Google Drive or AWS S3 bucket."

More GitHub Actions cons

"The interface is very basic and not user-friendly; it feels like it was stuck in 2010."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, GitHub Actions is okay. If I want to use the product's advanced features, then I need to pay the licensing charges for the solution."

"Regarding cost, as an enterprise, we negotiate our license and expenses, so I can't provide a specific rating for that."

"The cost for GitHub Actions may be around $45 dollars per user."

"It is free and open platform, so I would rate it 1 out of 10."

"The product is slightly more expensive than some alternatives."

"The tool's price is okay and reasonable."

"For our basic usage, we didn't have to pay."

"It's low-priced. Not high, but definitely low."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitHub Actions?

I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to j...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub Actions?

I would rate pricing a seven, which leans toward the expensive side. However, there is still value for money, and that's why we continue using it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GitHub Actions?

Frankly, I cannot imagine something that could be improved in GitHub Actions; there's a lot of capabilities, and the feature set is more advanced than we use. The pricing is high for the advanced s...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Travis CI?

I'm not too sure about the pricing of Travis or how the agreement works.

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What needs improvement with Travis CI?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Travis CI?

Travis CI is mainly used to run integration tests as part of the deployment, which I do on Kubernetes. The Travis workflows are integrated with any changes in my code. It will have different jobs, ...

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Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

Bamboo vs GitHub Actions

Compared 12% of the time

TeamCity vs GitHub Actions

Compared 9% of the time

Buildkite vs GitHub Actions

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitHub Actions

August 2025

Download GitHub Actions product report

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

July 2025

Download Travis CI product report

Overview

GitHub Actions streamlines CI/CD processes with an intuitive YAML workflow and robust automation, enhancing efficiency and integration with third-party tools and cloud providers.

GitHub Actions automates development pipelines, supports scalable public and private runners, and manages secure secrets. This tool integrates seamlessly with platforms like AWS, Kubernetes, Google Cloud, and Databricks. It enhances DevOps workflows with reliable task automation. Users note areas for UI and deployment tool improvements, artifact management simplification, and additional programming language support. Debugging complexity and hosting agent transitions pose challenges, along with integration enhancements for tools like OneDrive.

What are GitHub Actions' key features?

YAML Workflow Creation: Simplifies configuration with intuitive YAML.
CI/CD Integration: Provides seamless integration within DevOps pipelines.
Automation Capabilities: Automates tasks with minimal manual intervention.
Third-Party Tool Compatibility: Works well with diverse tools and platforms.
Secure Secrets Management: Protects sensitive information effectively.

What benefits do users find in GitHub Actions?

Enhanced Performance: Boosts task execution speed and reliability.
Scalability: Supports growth with flexible runner options.
Improved Release Cycles: Ensures consistent updates and deployments.
Workflow Efficiency: Reduces manual tasks, increasing operational efficiency.

Companies in tech and software development frequently utilize GitHub Actions for integrating, deploying, and versioning projects. It is often employed for deploying applications to cloud environments like AWS and Kubernetes, managing extensive CI/CD workflows, and automating test and security operations, thereby streamlining production cycles across industries.

GitHub

Easily sync your GitHub projects with Travis CI and you'll be testing your code in minutes. Travis CI for private repositories has plans for every size project. With Travis CI testing your open source project is 100% free.

Travis CI

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Facebook, Heroku, Mozilla, Zendesk, twitter, Rails

Find out what your peers are saying about GitLab, Google, GitHub and others in Build Automation. Updated: July 2025.

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