Semaphore
Fast CI/CD platform with usage-based pricing and self-hosted agents
About Semaphore
Semaphore is a continuous integration and delivery platform that helps development teams automate building, testing, and deploying code. It offers both cloud-hosted and self-hosted options with support for Docker, Kubernetes, and 100+ pre-installed tools, all with usage-based pricing that charges only for actual compute time.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Usage-based pricing means teams only pay for actual compute time used
- Free tier for open-source projects with parallel CI on Linux and macOS
- Self-hosted agent option gives teams full control over build environments
- 70% lower pricing than competing CI/CD services
- Enterprise-grade security with RBAC, SAML, and audit logs
Cons
- Self-hosted agents require Scaleup plan or higher
- Smaller marketplace of plugins compared to GitHub Actions or Jenkins
- Learning curve for teams migrating from other CI/CD platforms
- macOS runners may have limited availability during peak times
Key Features
Parallel Execution
Run tests and builds in parallel across multiple containers to dramatically reduce pipeline times
Self-Hosted Agents
Run jobs in environments fully controlled by your team with simple configuration and easy autoscaling
Docker & Kubernetes Support
Native Docker support with deployment integrations for containerized and orchestrated applications
100+ Pre-Installed Tools
Pre-configured build environments with popular languages, frameworks, and tools ready to use
Metrics & Insights
Measure build performance, frequency, and reliability over time to identify improvement areas
Enterprise Security
RBAC, Okta, SAML/SCIM, audit logs, pre-flight checks, OpenID Connect, and IP allowlists
Usage-Based Pricing
Pay only for actual compute time, prorated to the second, based on machine types used
Open Source Support
Free parallel CI for Linux and macOS open-source projects
Pricing
- Limited compute hours
- Cloud-hosted runners
- Community support
- Free for open source
- Cloud-hosted runners
- Usage-based compute
- Email support
- Basic analytics
- Everything in Startup
- Self-hosted agents
- Advanced analytics
- Priority support
- Everything in Scaleup
- SAML/SCIM
- Audit logs
- Dedicated support
- SLA guarantees
Best For
Automated Testing Pipeline
Run automated test suites on every commit with parallel execution to catch bugs before deployment
Container Deployment
Build Docker images and deploy to Kubernetes clusters with native container support
Open Source CI/CD
Free continuous integration for open-source projects with parallel builds on Linux and macOS
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