Buildkite

Flexible CI pipelines with hosted Linux compute or self-hosted build agents

ciagents
Websitebuildkite.com
CategoryCI/CD & code
PricingFreemium
Card requiredNo
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ABOUT

What is Buildkite?

Buildkite is a CI platform that combines hosted orchestration with both hosted compute and self-hosted agents. Teams can use Buildkite-hosted Linux capacity or run jobs on their own infrastructure for network, hardware and compliance control.

BEFORE YOU SIGN UP

What you should know

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Full control over execution environmentJobs run on your own machines inside your VPC, so network access, secrets and compliance requirements are all under your control.
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No queue wait timesBecause you provision the agents, you are never waiting in a shared queue. Builds start immediately when agents are available.
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Requires operational overheadYou must install, monitor and maintain agent software on your infrastructure. Buildkite does not provide managed runners.
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Hosted or self-hosted executionBuildkite Free includes hosted Linux vCPU minutes and also supports self-hosted agents when teams need their own network, hardware or compliance boundary.

COMMUNITY

From the forums

Buildkite users on Reddit praise the hybrid model for eliminating queue wait times and providing full control over agent environments. The main complaint is the lack of managed runners, which places the burden of agent maintenance on the team. Many teams migrating from Jenkins highlight the YAML-based pipeline configuration as a major improvement.

— Community sentiment

💬Discuss on Reddit ↗

SEE ALSO · CI/CD & code

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ABOUT US

Honest, independent, no fluff.

No paid placements. Just a clear look at what this does, what it costs, and what to know before you commit.

Read more→

FAQ

Questions, answered.

How is Buildkite different from GitHub Actions?＋

Buildkite supports both hosted compute and self-hosted agents behind its hosted orchestration. GitHub Actions defaults to GitHub-hosted runners but also supports self-hosted runners.

Do I need to manage servers to use Buildkite?＋

Not necessarily. Buildkite offers hosted Linux compute, while self-hosted agents remain available for Docker, Kubernetes, VMs or bare metal when you want to manage the execution environment.

Can Buildkite replace Jenkins?＋

Yes, many teams use Buildkite as a modern Jenkins replacement. The plugin ecosystem is smaller, but the YAML pipeline configuration, live build logs and artifact support cover most CI needs with less overhead.