Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

GitlabRunner VS MergeQueue

Compare GitlabRunner VS MergeQueue and see what are their differences

GitlabRunner logo GitlabRunner

Speed up your CI/CD pipeline

MergeQueue logo MergeQueue

Automate Github’s CI/CD in under 3 mins
  • GitlabRunner Landing page
    Landing page //
    2020-03-10
  • MergeQueue Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-17

GitlabRunner features and specs

  • Integration with GitLab
    GitLab Runner integrates seamlessly with GitLab CI/CD, providing a smooth experience for managing and deploying builds directly from your repositories.
  • Multiple Executor Types
    GitLab Runner supports various executors like Docker, Shell, VirtualBox, Parallels, SSH, and Kubernetes, allowing flexibility in running builds in different environments.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, GitLab Runner allows for complete transparency, the ability to customize or extend functionalities, and does not incur licensing costs.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    GitLab Runner can be installed on multiple platforms, including Linux, macOS, and Windows, offering versatility in build server setup.
  • Autoscaling
    With native support for autoscaling on cloud platforms, GitLab Runner can scale resources up or down, optimizing cost and performance based on demand.

Possible disadvantages of GitlabRunner

  • Complex Setup for Large Projects
    Configuring GitLab Runner for large and complex projects can be challenging, often requiring significant DevOps expertise to optimize the pipeline and runners efficiently.
  • Resource Management
    Managing resources effectively can be complex, especially when dealing with shared runners, which might lead to resource contention or inefficient builds.
  • Limited Community Support
    While GitLab Runner is open source, its community and third-party support might not be as extensive as other CI/CD tools like Jenkins, potentially leading to slower resolution of issues.
  • Lack of Plugins
    Compared to other CI/CD systems, GitLab Runner has fewer third-party plugins, which might require custom scripts or workarounds to achieve specific functionalities.
  • Dependency on GitLab
    The tight integration means that GitLab Runner is heavily reliant on GitLab, limiting its use in environments where GitLab is not the primary version control system.

MergeQueue features and specs

  • Improved CI/CD Efficiency
    MergeQueue helps streamline the continuous integration and continuous deployment processes by automatically managing and merging pull requests. This can lead to increased efficiency and productivity for development teams.
  • Reduced Merge Conflicts
    By automating the merge process and ensuring changes are always up-to-date with the main branch, MergeQueue can help prevent merge conflicts that commonly occur when developers manually merge their changes.
  • Ensures Passing Tests
    MergeQueue ensures that all changes pass the required tests before being merged, enhancing code quality and stability by preventing potentially breaking changes from being integrated into the main branch.
  • Saves Developer Time
    Automating the merge process means developers spend less time on manual merging and testing, freeing them to focus more on feature development and other critical tasks.

Possible disadvantages of MergeQueue

  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Setting up MergeQueue might require significant initial configuration and integration effort, especially for teams unfamiliar with CI/CD automation tools.
  • Learning Curve
    Teams may need time to learn and adjust their workflow to fully leverage MergeQueue's capabilities, which could temporarily impact productivity.
  • Potential Over-Reliance
    Relying heavily on automated systems like MergeQueue might lead to developers becoming less vigilant about manually reviewing and testing their code thoroughly.
  • Integration Limitations
    MergeQueue might not integrate seamlessly with all tools and platforms used by a development team, potentially limiting its effectiveness or causing compatibility issues.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GitlabRunner and MergeQueue)
Developer Tools
41 41%
59% 59
Continuous Integration
60 60%
40% 40
Productivity
30 30%
70% 70
DevOps Tools
51 51%
49% 49

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, MergeQueue seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. 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.

GitlabRunner mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of GitlabRunner yet. Tracking of GitlabRunner recommendations started around Mar 2021.

MergeQueue mentions (2)

  • Show HN: ChangeSets – group PRs across multiple Git repos
    Hey HN! Ankit and I built Changesets to help coordinate Pull Requests across multiple repos. If your team works on projects where developers have to submit Pull Requests across many repos, you've probably felt the pain of coordinating these groups of PRs so they all merge together without breaking dependencies. With ChangeSets you can now group these PRs together so that they can be merged and rolled-back as a... - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • This branch is out-of-date
    This can be optimized using a custom Github action to keep branches up to date. Every time a PR is merged, a Github action can be triggered to update the rest of the branches. Some companies have internally built a system to manage this whole process, for example SubmitQueue at Uber or Merge Queue at Shopify. There are also some plug and play versions of similar concepts, the one I’ve used in the past is called... - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GitlabRunner and MergeQueue, you can also consider the following products

Buddy - The simplest CI/CD tool ever made, acclaimed by top developers worldwide. It uses delivery pipelines to build, test and deploy software. Pipelines are created with over 100 ready-to-use actions, that can be arranged in any way.

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

Semaphore - Semaphore is a fully managed, high performance testing and deployment solution for your company. A Continuous Integration tool.

SaaS Starter Kit - A starter template with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD and more

Insomnia CLI - Speed up API CI/CD pipeline development

Bitbu - Built for professional teams