CircleCI - Cloud-Hosted CICD - ANNUAL PLAN

I have been using CircleCI  for over three years as part of my DevOps toolchain.

I use CircleCI  to automate CI/CD pipelines, including build, test, and deployment workflows across multiple applications. In one pipeline, I deploy an application to my Kubernetes  cluster on AWS  in the cloud, and I use CircleCI to automate that deployment in the form of a pipeline.

CircleCI is helping me automate my deployment workflows effectively, and it is a fit use case for the same. I have been using it for many application deployments, and it is working for end-to-end deployment.

CircleCI offers fast parallel builds, easy integration with GitHub , and the ability to deploy applications on Kubernetes  pods, which are amazing features.

Fast parallel builds and GitHub  integration have definitely helped my team reach faster time to market for our applications. Previously, our deployment used to take a couple of hours when doing it manually, but with CircleCI pipeline, our hours-long job has been converted to a couple of minutes.

Its simplicity, fast pipeline execution, and strong GitHub and GitLab  integrations are definitely unique advantages I discovered while using CircleCI.

Time saved is one of the key aspects I have seen since using CircleCI. I have noticed fewer deployment errors, and it has helped me with easy debugging. Time saved is directly proportional to the cost and effort saved.

CircleCI has positively impacted my organization by integrating directly with my Git  repositories as a fully managed SaaS platform.

CircleCI has a great impact on my team's collaboration and communication, with around 25 to 40 developers and DevOps engineers using it daily across multiple repositories and environments, helping us use it at scale.

CircleCI has significantly increased our release frequency and deployment speed compared to before I started using it.

CircleCI improves security for my organization by enforcing automated checks in the pipeline and securely managing secrets through environment variables while providing auditable deployments.

CircleCI integrates seamlessly with my DevOps toolchain by connecting directly to GitHub, container registries, and my cloud platform AWS , allowing the entire CI/CD flow from code commit to deployment and monitoring with minimal manual effort.

I believe debugging complex pipelines and managing credits can sometimes be challenging, especially for large workflows, so these areas can be improved.

The user interface can definitely be improved to debug complex pipelines. I would benefit from better AI-generated insights where I can debug the pipelines easily without going through detailed logging.

I have been working in my current field for more than 10 years.

CircleCI has been very stable in my experience with consistent pipeline executions and minimal platform-related issues.

CircleCI scales well as my team and repositories grow, allowing me to run multiple concurrent pipelines without performance degradation.

I have not encountered any limitations with CircleCI's scalability as my projects have grown. However, managing pipeline complexity and optimizing credits usage required additional planning, which was manageable.

CircleCI team has been responsive and knowledgeable whenever I sought assistance.

Negative

Previously, I used Jenkins  but moved to CircleCI to reduce maintenance overhead and simplify pipeline management, as CircleCI provided faster setup, better scalability, and a more streamlined developer experience.

CircleCI documentation is generally clear and well-structured, making it easy to get started and implement standard CI/CD workflows.

CircleCI has significantly reduced build and deployment times, saving substantial engineering hours and effort for me, which has directly improved my productivity and release velocity, reflecting incredible ROI.

My experience with CircleCI's pricing model is quite straightforward with no upfront setup cost, and the licensing is flexible based on my usage. Costs can increase as pipeline usage scales, but they remain predictable and manageable with proper monitoring.

Before choosing CircleCI, I evaluated Jenkins , GitHub Actions , and GitLab  CI/CD. CircleCI stood out due to its ease of use, faster execution, and lower operational overhead.

CircleCI has been a reliable and efficient platform for me that has helped streamline my delivery process and CI/CD process. With continued enhancements around cost visibility and advanced pipeline management, it can deliver even greater value.

My advice for others looking into using CircleCI is to invest time in pipeline design and cost monitoring early to get the best long-term value from the platform. CircleCI would be a strong choice for those who want fast, reliable CI/CD with minimal operational overhead.

I would rate this review an 8 out of 10.

CircleCI  is used primarily as the pipeline for application deployment. When a pull request is created in GitHub , it triggers a CircleCI  pipeline because of the GitHub  integration. During the CircleCI pipeline, the application goes through building and deployment to the appropriate destination, which can be a Lambda or AKS microservices.

CircleCI's GitHub integration is the best feature offered. The GitHub integration is most valuable because of its ease of use, as it only requires integration with the GitHub repository and then creating the pipeline as a YAML file within the repository code.

CircleCI has positively impacted the organization, as it has been used for many years and serves as the main source for application deployment. Every deployment is conducted through CircleCI, and this is what keeps the company functioning.

CircleCI's Orbs are not as easy to use as they could be. If CircleCI implemented a function approach similar to GitHub Actions , it would be significantly better.

CircleCI could be improved if it could function without Orbs. Instead of Orbs, using a function approach like GitHub Actions  would be beneficial.

CircleCI has been used for two years.

CircleCI is stable.

CircleCI's scalability is easier to manage, but it comes at a high cost.

A customer support ticket has never been opened.

This company already had CircleCI running for several years before starting at this position.

CircleCI was purchased through the AWS Marketplace .

The company does not have a business relationship with this vendor beyond being a customer.

A return on investment with CircleCI has not been observed, and no relevant metrics such as time saved or fewer employees needed can be shared.

There is not much experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing because that is managed by the legal team.

Other options were not evaluated before choosing CircleCI, but after choosing CircleCI, GitHub Actions and Harness  are already being evaluated.

For others looking into using CircleCI, study thoroughly about CircleCI's Orbs because they are quite complicated. The overall review rating for CircleCI is 6 out of 10.