Side by side
Concourse vs Drone
Both stand on continuous integration software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan APILinuxMac+3
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.
Visit Concourse
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+2
Drone provides repository-based CI pipelines with isolated containers, runners, plugins, and broad source-control integrations. The free edition targets single-machine use, while Enterprise adds scale and features at $299 a month or more.
Visit DroneThe facts
| Concourse | Drone | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Web, Windows | API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Enterprise Edition: $299 a month |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | concourse-ci.org | drone.io |
| On continuous integration software | #12 of 58 | #16 of 58 |
Concourse: 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.
Drone: what it does well
- Runs each pipeline step in an isolated Docker container
- Connects with major Git hosting services
- Supports plugins for AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, and Slack
- Offers pull request checks and dependency caching
- Free Open Source Edition available
What to know first
- Open Source Edition lacks distributed and Kubernetes runners
- Open Source Edition lacks autoscaling and cron scheduling
- Enterprise starts at $299 a month
- Secret encryption must be enabled before storing secrets
Alternatives to Concourse Alternatives to Drone The whole list