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AWS CodePipeline VS GitHub Actions

Compare AWS CodePipeline VS GitHub Actions and see what are their differences

AWS CodePipeline logo AWS CodePipeline

Continuous delivery service for fast and reliable application updates

GitHub Actions logo GitHub Actions

Automate your workflow from idea to production
  • AWS CodePipeline Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-25
  • GitHub Actions Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-25

AWS CodePipeline features and specs

  • Integration with AWS Services
    AWS CodePipeline seamlessly integrates with other AWS services like CodeCommit, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy, enabling a smooth and coordinated CI/CD process.
  • Scalability
    AWS CodePipeline automatically scales with your development workflows, offering the scalability needed to handle varying workloads without manual intervention.
  • Automated Workflow
    CodePipeline allows for the creation of automated, repeatable workflows for building, testing, and deploying code, which reduces human error and increases efficiency.
  • Pay-As-You-Go Pricing
    The pricing model is pay-as-you-go, so you only pay for what you use, making it cost-effective for businesses of all sizes.
  • Built-In Security
    AWS CodePipeline offers built-in security features such as AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles, ensuring that your CI/CD process adheres to best security practices.

Possible disadvantages of AWS CodePipeline

  • Learning Curve
    For those who are not familiar with AWS services, there can be a considerable learning curve to effectively utilize AWS CodePipeline.
  • Limited Customization
    While the service covers many use cases, it may offer limited customization options for highly specific or complex CI/CD workflows compared to other third-party tools.
  • Service Dependency
    Heavily relying on AWS CodePipeline ties your deployment pipeline to AWS, which can be limiting if you plan to use multi-cloud environments.
  • Latency Issues
    Latency can occur when connecting with external repositories or third-party tools, impacting the speed of the deployment pipeline.
  • Costs for High Usage
    While the pay-as-you-go model is cost-effective for many use cases, high-frequency usage can lead to significant costs over time, especially for large-scale enterprises.

GitHub Actions features and specs

  • Seamless GitHub Integration
    GitHub Actions are natively integrated with GitHub, making it easy to use within repositories and leverage other GitHub features such as issues, pull requests, and releases.
  • Custom Workflows
    Allows for the creation of complex and custom workflows using YAML syntax, providing flexibility to handle a variety of CI/CD processes.
  • Marketplace Access
    Access to GitHub Marketplace where a wide range of pre-built actions are available, allowing users to quickly set up workflows with minimal configuration.
  • Concurrent Execution
    Supports parallel execution of jobs, which can significantly reduce the time needed to run workflows by performing multiple tasks simultaneously.
  • Self-Hosted Runners
    Provides the ability to use self-hosted runners, offering more control over the environment and resources used for running workflows.
  • Cost-Efficient
    Includes a generous free tier, especially for public repositories, which can be cost-effective for projects with limited resource requirements.

Possible disadvantages of GitHub Actions

  • Complexity for Beginners
    Due to its powerful features and flexibility, setting up and managing GitHub Actions can be complex for users who are not familiar with CI/CD processes or YAML.
  • Limited to GitHub
    As a GitHub-specific product, GitHub Actions is tied to repositories hosted on GitHub, limiting its use for projects that are hosted on other version control platforms.
  • Billing for Additional Usage
    While there is a free tier, usage beyond the free limits incurs additional charges, which can become significant for high-frequency or resource-intensive workflows.
  • Resource Limitations
    GitHub Actions has limitations on available resources (such as CPU and memory) for runners, which can be restrictive for very resource-intensive tasks.

AWS CodePipeline videos

AWS CodePipeline tutorial | Build a CI/CD Pipeline on AWS

More videos:

  • Review - Introduction to AWS CodePipeline - Continuous Delivery on Amazon Web Services
  • Review - AWS CodePipeline | AWS CodeDeploy | AWS CodeBuild | CodeCommit | Deploy WebApp a Hands on Lab
  • Review - Streamline Your Software Release Process Using AWS CodePipeline

GitHub Actions videos

Introducing GitHub Package Registry

More videos:

  • Tutorial - 5 Ways to DevOps-ify your App - Github Actions Tutorial
  • Review - Automatic Deployment With Github Actions
  • Review - GitHub Actions - Now with built-in CI/CD! Live from GitHub HQ

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to AWS CodePipeline and GitHub Actions)
Continuous Integration
29 29%
71% 71
DevOps Tools
25 25%
75% 75
Continuous Deployment
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare AWS CodePipeline and GitHub Actions

AWS CodePipeline Reviews

The Best Alternatives to Jenkins for Developers
AWS CodePipeline is a continuous integration and continuous delivery service that easily and quickly automates your release pipelines for updates. Every time you change the code, AWS CodePipeline will build, test, and deploy your application. Also, it can be easily integrated with GitHub.

GitHub Actions Reviews

Top 10 Most Popular Jenkins Alternatives for DevOps in 2024
GitHub Actions is the CI/CD solution that’s built into GitHub, the most popular version control platform. It’s specifically designed to provide an intuitive experience for developers who want to run pipelines quickly without having to configure any separate software. Because it’s a managed SaaS service that’s specifically focused on CI/CD, there are no self-hosting...
Source: spacelift.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GitHub Actions seems to be a lot more popular than AWS CodePipeline. While we know about 307 links to GitHub Actions, we've tracked only 29 mentions of AWS CodePipeline. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

AWS CodePipeline mentions (29)

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GitHub Actions mentions (307)

  • What tools can help streamline cloud deployment processes?
    If your code lives on GitHub (which it probably does), GitHub Actions should be your go-to for CI/CD. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • Getting started with FrankenPHP, Laravel and Docker
    My base target is used for development use, but my production target is used for production use. I'm using a GitHub Actions workflow to checkout my code, installing dependencies without development dependencies, and building my application. When that's done, I build the Docker image and send it to my container registry. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Automating Voicebot Deployments for Amazon Connect
    In this post, I will share WebRTC.ventures' best practices in automating the deployment of AI-powered voice assistants for Amazon Connect, moving beyond manual, click-by-click setups to a robust, scalable Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach. We’ll explore how to manage both static and dynamic resources, leverage tools like Terraform and AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM), and even set up an automated... - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • Deploying a static Website with Pulumi
    The Python Pulumi code is deployed with GitHub Actions. This leverages static credentials for AWS embedded as repository secrets. I have implemented two workflows:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • As Visual Studio App Center closes, a look back, and what to use now?
    When Microsoft announced the App Center shutdown last year, they recommended an array of alternative tools from elsewhere in their developer toolkit and beyond to replace its capabilities. Users seeking an alternative to App Center's hosted build automation, or App Store deployment, capabilities can look to Azure DevOps Pipelines or GitHub Actions. For cloud-based on-device testing, they recommend external tool... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing AWS CodePipeline and GitHub Actions, you can also consider the following products

Jenkins - Jenkins is an open-source continuous integration server with 300+ plugins to support all kinds of software development

CircleCI - CircleCI gives web developers powerful Continuous Integration and Deployment with easy setup and maintenance.

GitHub - Originally founded as a project to simplify sharing code, GitHub has grown into an application used by over a million people to store over two million code repositories, making GitHub the largest code host in the world.

Travis CI - Simple, flexible, trustworthy CI/CD tools. Join hundreds of thousands who define tests and deployments in minutes, then scale up simply with parallel or multi-environment builds using Travis CI’s precision syntax—all with the developer in mind.

Codeship - Codeship is a fast and secure hosted Continuous Delivery platform that scales with your needs.

Harness - Automated Tests For Your Web App