AWS CodePipeline is a continuous delivery tool used to model and automate software releases, particularly when a CI / CD pipeline relies on at least some AWS products and resources. It can integrate Git repositories like GitHub or AWS CodeCommit, build automation services like CloudBees, Jenkins, or AWS CodeBuild, and testing tools like BlazeMeter. Azure DevOps Services, on Microsoft Azure, is an agile development suite of tools replacing the former VSTS, featuring Azure Pipelines, a service quite similar to but slightly more robust than AWS CodePipeline, alongside agile project space Azure Boards, and Azure’s own repo tools and Azure Test Plans testing toolkit. Both CodePipelines and Azure DevOps with Azure Pipelines are used to orchestrate a CI / CD pipeline in the cloud. Both solutions are deployed across companies of all sizes, and somewhat more at larger companies.
Features
For continuous delivery in the cloud, AWS and Azure DevOps both present some clear advantages.
When building with Azure DevOps, users will reside in a rich ecosystem of apps and serviceable integrations (Chef, GitHub), while having complete in-built CI / CD automation (Azure Pipelines), as well as a strong agile planning tool with Azure Boards. Few competitors can boast breadth of services equal to Azure DevOps. With its native tool for managing teams using agile, waterfall, or hybrid methodologies, Microsoft Azure’s DevOps Services presents a flexible and complete solution.
AWS CodePipelines provides easy integrations with AWS tools, infrastructure and services, and provides the user with either a graphical user interface and setup wizard for modeling the software release process or infrastructure as code via AWS CloudFormation configuration tool; both the in-built graphical interface and the integratable IAC option are highly regarded. A straightforward tool, CodePipelines receives high marks for its core capabilities.
Limitations
There are a few limitations when using Azure DevOps Services or AWS CodePipelines worth mentioning.
AWS CodePipelines does what it does, and little more; users do not like it for building with services outside the AWS ecosystem. In fact, the benefits of working with AWS CodePipelines is directly related to how many AWS services you are using.
Likewise, the greatest limitation of Azure DevOp Services is that the Azure cloud where it resides is not appropriate for every agile project. Additionally, administrators complain about user and team management, access controls, UI quibbles (e.g. lack of clear placement of tools), as well as customizability.
Pricing
AWS CodePipelines is delivered on a pay for what you use model, with the price being $1.00 per active pipeline per month (i.e. it has at least one active code change through the month and has existed for at least 30 days). Pipelines are free up to 30 days from creation. Azure DevOps Services are free for the first 5 users on a team, and then $6 per user subsequently. Azure Pipelines activity is priced so that for Microsoft Azure hosting the first 1800 minutes are free for one parallel job, then $40 for each parallel job with unlimited minutes. The first parallel job is free with self-hosting, with each subsequent one costing $15 dollars. Azure Artifacts are free for the first 2GB, and then $2 for each extra GB.
