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Concourse

Free plan APILinuxMacSelf-hostedWebWindows

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Concourse's own site

What Concourse is

Concourse is a free, open-source system for continuous automation designed for CI/CD. Its pipelines represent dependency flows: resources stand for external state, and jobs interact with those resources. Teams can keep pipeline configuration as code in source control and manage it with the fly CLI. The web interface visualizes pipelines and helps trace a failed job to its cause. Tasks run in containers and specify the images used for their dependencies. With fly execute, users can run builds locally with changes or reproduce a failed build using its inputs.

Concourse includes a git resource type and permits custom resource types in pipeline configuration. Authentication options include local accounts and providers such as GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, BitBucket Cloud, LDAP, Microsoft, OIDC, OAuth, and SAML. Documented credential managers include AWS Secrets Manager, AWS Systems Manager, Conjur, CredHub, Kubernetes, and Vault. A deployment includes web, worker, and PostgreSQL nodes; Docker Compose and an official Helm chart are documented options. Concourse is self-hosted rather than hosted. Its documentation cautions that teams provide trusted multi-tenancy only, so cluster access should be limited to trusted people.

Who it suits

Concourse suits teams that want an open-source CI/CD automation system with pipeline configuration in code and local build debugging. It is intended for teams able to manage a self-hosted deployment and restrict cluster access to trusted users.

What it does well

  • Free and open source.
  • Pipeline configuration can be committed to source control.
  • Tasks run in containers with specified images.
  • Local builds can reproduce failures using their inputs.
  • Supports multiple authentication and credential manager integrations.

What to know first

  • Self-hosted; no hosted option is listed.
  • Documentation describes a steeper initial learning curve.
  • Multi-tenancy is for trusted teams only.
  • Deployment includes web, worker, and PostgreSQL nodes.

Plans

PlanBilled and limitsPrice
ConcourseFree and open source software project; self-hosted deploymentFree

As concourse-ci.org lists them, read 5 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

  1. Visit the Concourse website.
  2. Choose a documented deployment route: Docker Compose or the official Helm chart.
  3. Set up the web, worker and PostgreSQL nodes.
  4. Configure pipeline YAML and manage it with the fly CLI.

Verdict

Concourse offers configurable, self-hosted CI/CD pipelines with containerized tasks and local debugging. Its documentation flags both the learning curve and the need to limit cluster access to trusted people.

Questions

Is Concourse free?

Yes. The listed Concourse plan is free and described as a free and open-source software project for self-hosted deployment.

Is there a hosted option?

No hosted option is listed. Concourse is self-hosted.

Which platforms are listed?

The listed platforms are API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web and Windows.

Can teams use custom resources?

Yes. Concourse includes a git resource type and supports custom resource types declared in pipeline configuration.

Which authentication methods does it support?

Options include local authentication, GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, BitBucket Cloud, CF/UAA, LDAP, Microsoft, OIDC, OAuth and SAML.

What deployment options are documented?

Deployments comprise web, worker and PostgreSQL nodes. Docker Compose and an official Helm chart are documented options.

Facts from Concourse's own pages

Authentication
Supported authentication methods include local, GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, BitBucket Cloud, CF/UAA, LDAP, Microsoft, OIDC, OAuth, and SAML. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Build execution
Tasks run in containers and specify their own container images for dependencies. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Configuration
Pipeline configuration is code that can be committed to source control and managed with the fly CLI. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Credential managers
Documented credential manager integrations include AWS Secrets Manager, AWS Systems Manager, Conjur, CredHub, Kubernetes, and Vault. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Deployment
An installation comprises a web node, a worker node, and a PostgreSQL node; documented deployment options include Docker Compose and an official Helm chart. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Integrations
Concourse includes a git resource type and supports custom resource types declared in pipeline configuration. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Learning curve
The documentation describes Concourse as having a steeper initial learning curve. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Local debugging
The fly execute command runs builds locally with modifications and can reproduce a failed build using its inputs. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Pipeline model
Pipelines are dependency flows built from resources that represent external state and jobs that interact with those resources. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Platforms
The quick start documents fly CLI installation steps for Linux, macOS, and Windows. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Purpose
Concourse is an open-source continuous automation system designed to excel at CI/CD. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Security caveat
The documentation says teams provide trusted multi-tenancy only and advises allowing access only to people trusted with the Concourse cluster. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Support
Community support is available through Discord and GitHub Discussions, and maintainers offer commercial support, training, and consulting through Pixel Air IO. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026
Visual interface
The web UI visualizes pipelines and lets users move from a failed job to the cause of failure. · concourse-ci.org, 5 Oct 2026

Where Concourse stands on Freedom251

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