About Jenkins
Jenkins is an open source automation server for building, testing and deploying software. It is a Java program that runs on Windows, Linux and macOS.
What it does
Jenkins runs build and delivery jobs on a schedule or whenever code changes. Pipelines describe each stage of a project, from compiling code to running tests and releasing it. Work can be spread across several machines, which helps when builds are slow or need different operating systems.
Key features
- Thousands of community plugins
- Distributed builds across machines
- Web interface for setup and jobs
- Pipelines for build, test and deploy
Who it's for
Development teams that want full control over their build servers, and operations staff who maintain self-hosted delivery pipelines. Teams that prefer a fully managed hosted service may find other CI tools easier to run.
Pricing and good to know
Jenkins is open source under the MIT licence and is free to download and run on your own hardware. Costs come from the servers it runs on and the time spent keeping Jenkins and its plugins updated. Setup is done through the web interface, which includes built-in help and error checks.
Highlights
- Run jobs on a schedule or after each code change
- Connect to over 2,000 community plugins
- Spread builds across several machines
- Define build and deploy stages as pipelines
- Configure everything from a web interface
