# Alternatives to Woodpecker CI Community fork of Drone. Woodpecker CI ranks #5 of 7 in CI/CD platforms, with an Alt Score of 82. It is licensed under Apache-2.0, free from Free and available on Linux, Windows, macOS and Web. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/woodpecker-ci/ Category: CI/CD platforms ## Where Woodpecker CI stands out - **Concurrency limits** — 2 of 7 apps with a verified answer have this ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Development teams who want a self-hosted CI/CD engine without vendor lock-in — especially those already comfortable with Docker and looking for a lighter-weight, community-driven alternative to Drone or Jenkins. - **What you get**: A CI/CD server and agent system that runs pipeline steps as Docker containers, defined in YAML files stored in your repo. Supports multiple parallel workflows per repo with dependencies between them, secrets management, and matrix builds. Integrates with GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Forgejo, and Bitbucket for repo hookup and status reporting. Extensible via plugins (containerized steps) for tasks like publishing, notifications, or deployment. - **How it works**: You push YAML pipeline files to your repository; Woodpecker's server receives webhook events from your Git forge, queues the defined workflow, and dispatches it to one or more agents, which execute each pipeline step as an isolated Docker container and report results back to the server. ## Profile - **License**: Apache-2.0 (verified 2026-07-09) - **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-09) - **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-09) - **Platforms**: Linux, Windows, macOS, Web - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-09) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [CircleCI](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/circleci.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Web | | 2 | [Semaphore](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/semaphore.md) | 86 | Apache 2.0 (Community Edition); commercial license (Enterprise Edition) | Web, Linux | | 3 | [Buildkite](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/buildkite.md) | 82 | ? | Web, Linux, macOS, Windows | | 4 | [TeamCity](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/teamcity.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, Linux, macOS, Web | | 5 | [Jenkins](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/jenkins.md) | 68 | MIT | Linux, Windows, macOS, Web | | 6 | [Drone](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/drone.md) | 55 | Apache-2.0 (Community Edition); Drone Non-Commercial License (Enterprise Edition) | Linux, Windows | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | CI/CD platforms checklist | Woodpecker CI | CircleCI | Semaphore | Buildkite | TeamCity | Jenkins | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Usage-based | Freemium | Freemium | Free | | Starts at | Free | Free | $0.003/min (Ubuntu ARM 2vCPU) | Free | €2,399/year | Free | | License | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | Apache 2.0 (Community Edition); commercial license (Enterprise Edition) | ? | Proprietary | MIT | | Platforms | Linux, Windows, macOS, Web | Web | Web, Linux | Web, Linux, macOS, Windows | Windows, Linux, macOS, Web | Linux, Windows, macOS, Web | | Free tier minutes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | | Self-hostable runners | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Pipeline as code | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Matrix builds | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Caching quality | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | | Container-native | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | | Secrets management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Marketplace / plugins | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Concurrency limits | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | Yes | No | | Debugging (SSH into runner) | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | ## Sources Sources for Woodpecker CI. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: Latest release v3.16.0 published 2026-06-27; repo not archived. - Quote: “Updated: 2026-07-09” - **License**: Apache-2.0 — (verified 2026-07-09) - Quote: “Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004” - **Pricing model**: Free — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: Apache-2.0 OSS; no paid tier from the project. Entirely free to self-host. - Quote: “Woodpecker is a simple, yet powerful CI/CD engine with great extensibility.” - **Starts at**: Free — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: Free to self-host; no paid tier. - Quote: “Woodpecker is a simple, yet powerful CI/CD engine with great extensibility.” - **Platforms**: Linux, Windows, macOS, Web — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: Server Linux only; agents Linux/Windows/macOS; Web UI via browser. - Quote: “Server Component: Runs exclusively on Linux … Agent Component: Available on broader platforms … Windows/amd64 (Binary), macOS (amd64 Intel, arm64 Apple Silicon - Binary)” - **Free tier minutes**: No — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: Purely self-hosted OSS; no hosted SaaS with free-tier minutes. - Quote: “Server Component: Runs exclusively on Linux across multiple architectures” - **Self-hostable runners**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-09) - Quote: “By default, the maximum workflows that are executed in parallel on an agent is 1. This limit can be increased via the WOODPECKER_MAX_WORKFLOWS environment variable.” - **Pipeline as code**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-09) - Quote: “Let's create a file at `.woodpecker/my-first-workflow.yaml` inside your repository” - **Matrix builds**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-09) - Quote: “Woodpecker executes a separate workflow for each combination in the matrix, allowing you to build and test against multiple configurations.” - **Caching quality**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: No native built-in cache; caching via community plugins (s3-cache, sccache). - Quote: “caches a file of folder to S3-compatible storage, like AWS S3 or Cloudflare R2” - **Container-native**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-09) - Quote: “In the `build` step we use the `debian` image … In the `a-test-step` we use the `golang:1.16` image” - **Secrets management**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-09) - Quote: “Woodpecker provides the ability to store named variables in a central secret store. These secrets can be securely passed on to individual pipeline steps using the keyword `from_secret`.” - **Marketplace / plugins**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-09) - Quote: “plugins which you can use to easily execute usual pipeline tasks” - **Concurrency limits**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: Configurable per agent; default 1 parallel workflow. - Quote: “By default, the maximum workflows that are executed in parallel on an agent is 1. This limit can be increased via the WOODPECKER_MAX_WORKFLOWS environment variable.” - **Debugging (SSH into runner)**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-09) - Note: No native SSH-into-runner; docs recommend a pipeline step using third-party sshx. - Quote: “curl -sSf https://sshx.io/get | sh && sshx” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/