GoCD vs Microsoft Azure DevOps comparison

Thoughtworks and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. Thoughtworks is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.3, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. Thoughtworks holds a 0.5% mindshare in ALM, compared to Microsoft’s 12.9% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Thoughtworks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

GoCD

Read 7 GoCD reviews

960 Views
192 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Read 135 Microsoft Azure DevOps reviews

16,841 Views
7,073 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

GoCD

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

GoCD and Microsoft Azure DevOps are both key players in the continuous delivery and integration market. Microsoft Azure DevOps has the upper hand due to its comprehensive suite of integrated services and versatility across various project environments.

Features: GoCD provides robust pipeline modelling, precise visualization tools, and flexible deployments, making it ideal for clear visibility and control over the delivery process. Microsoft Azure DevOps offers a suite of services like repositories, agile tools, and Azure Pipelines, enhancing collaboration and project management while ensuring seamless integration with various Microsoft and third-party products.

Room for Improvement: GoCD can improve by expanding its plugin ecosystem to increase extensibility, enhancing community support, and simplifying its interface for new users. Microsoft Azure DevOps could benefit from further streamlining user permissions, improving integration with non-Microsoft products, and offering more intuitive navigation for less tech-savvy users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GoCD supports on-premise deployment with customization options, ideal for security needs, yet requires significant manual setup. Microsoft Azure DevOps provides both cloud-based and on-premise solutions through Azure's infrastructure, featuring automated deployment processes and highly responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: GoCD is cost-effective for smaller teams with lower setup costs. Microsoft Azure DevOps, while potentially costlier upfront, yields a substantial ROI with its extensive features and scalability, appealing to larger enterprises looking for an all-encompassing DevOps solution.

To learn more, read our detailed GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 871,469 peers since 2012

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

GoCD

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

16th

Ranking in Release Automation

10th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Build Automation (16th)

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

2nd

Ranking in Release Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

135

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of GoCD is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 12.9%, down from 21.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Azure DevOps	12.9%
GoCD	0.5%
Other	86.6%

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

Nishant Narayan Singh

DevOps Architect at Cognizant

Simplifies the pipeline process, but the access control system needs enhancement

One area of product improvement is the access control system. It is difficult to assign different access levels because it relies on separate keys for developer and admin access, which could be simplified. The folder structure is another aspect that could be enhanced, as all jobs are displayed on a single page without the clear organization seen in Jenkins. Implementing a more structured approach to organizing jobs would improve user experience. AI could simplify job creation. For example, instead of manually editing pipelines as code, an AI tool could allow users to input variables and automatically generate the required jobs. It would help reduce human errors, such as issues that arise from incorrect edits in large code files.

Read full review

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

Facilitates agile transformation with potential for enhanced intuitiveness

What I liked about the solution is that it offers numerous features that are not available by default unless you are agile. Transitioning from the traditional Waterfall model to an agile methodology was challenging for us. Until 2020, our team predominantly worked with the Waterfall approach, using local tools like ServiceNow. We had a few team members who were familiar with Agile ISO, but none had experience with Azure. Therefore, we pursued Azure certification at the AZ-900 level. Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months. This preparation helped us get accustomed to the new tool, as transitioning to a new system invariably requires time. Managing a pipeline of deliverables became significantly easier with this solution. We utilized it for stories and integrated change management with Azure DevOps. Eventually, everything related to the environment was organized there, enabling us to follow up and track progress with our technical engineers on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Reports were automatically generated and sent to management, offering them insights into our progress concerning the predefined roadmap.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Permission separations mean that we can grant limited permissions for each team or team member."

"The most notable aspect is its user interface, which we find to be user-friendly and straightforward for deploying and comprehending pipelines. We have the ability to create multiple pipelines, and in addition to that, the resource consumption is impressive."

"GoCD's open-source nature is valuable."

"The UI is colorful."

"Microsoft Azure DevOps integrates well with other components, such as Synapse, which is a data warehouse tool of Azure. It is a framework platform for BI and integrated with other tools, such as Power BI."

"The creation of test plans is valuable and I like the reporting features."

"I really like the Microsoft DevOps survey."

"Microsoft Azure DevOps has helped the developers a lot and we are deploying process changes very frequently and simultaneously. A lot of my team members that are developers are updating the code in parallel using Git. Additionally, Microsoft Azure DevOps is providing a very good approval mechanism. Overall it is benefiting by creating efficiency in production deployment and applications, our new releases are running well. The security of secured is good."

"Overall, so far we have no major issues to report."

"Azure enables us to create a staging environment through to a production environment in an easier way and then get the code and run that."

"We can forecast tasks and the number of hours a task will take and can compare it with how long a task actually takes."

"The pricing seems to be reasonable."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pros

Cons

"It is difficult to assign different access levels because it relies on separate keys for developer and admin access, which could be simplified."

"The aspect that requires attention is the user management component. When integrating with BitLabs and authenticating through GitLab, there are specific features we desire. One important feature is the ability to import users directly from GitLab, along with their respective designations, and assign appropriate privileges based on that information. Allocating different privileges to users is a time-consuming process for us."

"The tool must be more user-friendly."

"The documentation really should be improved by including real examples and more setup cases."

"Reporting could be better. We would like to see how many applications are onboarded in DevOps and in which phase they are. We would like to know for how many applications we have done only the repository, but we have not yet done the build pipeline or deploy pipeline. Currently, there is no such report. We have to figure it out ourselves. There is no way to check how many applications are completing their build pipelines, how many applications are completing their deploy pipeline, how many are ready to use, and how many pipelines are working."

"The solution should have fewer updates."

"Not all companies use the same methodology which could limit the use of this solution."

"Azure has not yet advanced to the performance level of the other major competitors and is missing integration with important technologies."

"The installation time of this solution depends on the environment it is being implemented in. We had a couple of projects that took around two weeks of implementation. This included the whole integration of the DevOps and everything together."

"Testing is very important. Microsoft Azure DevOps tests very well. However, DevOps teams need to be aware of what they are impacting when someone updates anything on the system."

"They could provide clearer guidance on deployment practices for the product."

"The solution could be made faster because it can be a little unnerving to browse through too many pages and press too many buttons."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution and it is inexpensive."

"It's an open-source and free tool."

"There is a licensing fee of $6/user per month."

"Most of the things that we need and use are incorporated in the corporate solution — there are no additional costs."

"The price is reasonable, but of course, you can find others that are cheaper such as Atlassian."

"I don't know what we pay, but I do know what I've seen online. If we switched to JIRA, we will basically have to double our costs because we still have to pay for the DevOps licensing. We're probably spending $100 a month on it. It has only standard licensing fees."

"There are other solutions available that are open source and free, such as GitLab."

"We have an MPN subscription for Microsoft Azure DevOps, and it's all included."

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"We purchase the solution on an annual basis."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

871,469 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	69

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GoCD?

The UI is colorful.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GoCD?

The product is free of cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GoCD?

See all answers

Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...

See all answers

Which is better - TFS or Azure DevOps?

TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very fri...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.

See all answers

Comparisons

GitLab vs GoCD

Compared 32% of the time

Jenkins vs GoCD

Compared 31% of the time

GitHub Actions vs GoCD

Compared 21% of the time

Tekton vs GoCD

Compared 16% of the time

More GoCD Competitors

GitLab vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 49% of the time

Jira vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 11% of the time

Rally Software vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 5% of the time

TFS vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 4% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Azure DevOps Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

October 2025

Download GoCD product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure DevOps

October 2025

Download Microsoft Azure DevOps product report

Also Known As

Adaptive ALM, Thoughtworks Go

Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps

Overview

GoCD is an open source continuous delivery server created by ThoughtWorks. GoCD offers businesses a first-class build and deployment engine for complete control and visibility. It was designed for continuous delivery and the concepts essential to this practice are built in at the core.

Thoughtworks

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cloud service that enables developers to collaborate on code development projects and create and deploy applications quicker than ever before. The service helps unite developers, project managers, and software development experts through a collaborative experience while using the application. For the users' convenience, Azure DevOps offers the user cloud services through Azure DevOps Services or an on-premises service using Azure DevOps Server. In addition, it supports integration with additional services and adding extensions, including the ability for the user to create their own custom extensions.

Azure DevOps provides a variety of unified features that can be accessed through their web browser or IDE client, such as:

Azure Pipelines - Develop and deploy services to support ongoing application integration and delivery. Azure pipelines, which work with almost every project type and most languages, will automatically test code projects in order to make them available to others.
Azure Artifacts - Share packages and integrate package sharing between teams. Packages include NuGet, npm, and Maven, in addition to other private and public sources. Developers can now share and consume packages with other developers from different public registries.
Azure Repos - Offers source control of your code through Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) or Git repositories. Developers can now keep track of any changes that are made in their code over the course of their project.
Azure Test Plans - Offers continuous and manual/exploratory app testing through several tools. Test Suites, or a collection of Test Cases, are grouped together in a container called a Test Plan.
Azure Boards - Provides a suite of Agile tools to track work, support planning, code defects, and general issues while using Kanban and Scrum software. Teams are in need of tools that are flexible and will help them grow. Azure Boards is a service that helps developers manage their software projects.

Benefits of Microsoft Azure DevOps

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers many benefits, including:

A quick setup and easy deployment
An elastic scale
Exceptional security
No-maintenance operations
Effortless collaboration through domains
The ability to create and deploy products faster than traditional software

Reviews from Real Users

Microsoft Azure DevOps stands out among its competitors for a variety of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to forecast how long each task will take and the ability for users to follow the entire development process.

PeerSpot viewers note the effectiveness of this solution. An executive chief operating officer for a cloud provider notes, “We can forecast tasks and the number of hours a task will take and can compare it with how long a task actually takes.”

Carlos H., a product and system director at SPCM, writes, “I think the most usable thing is that you can follow the whole progress of the development process. This makes it very useful for us.”

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Ancestry.com, Barclay Card, AutoTrader, BT Financial Group, Gamesys, Nike, Vodafone, Haufe Lexware, Medidata, Hoovers

Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype

Buyer's Guide

GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

September 2025

Free Report: GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

Find out what your peers are saying about GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

871,469 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps report.

See our list of best Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites vendors and best Release Automation vendors.

We monitor all Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.