# CI/CD platforms: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "CI/CD platform" and as "continuous integration and delivery tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/developer/ci-cd-platforms/

**Standing:** GitHub Actions leads with 65% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 49 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GitHub Actions | 65% | 8% | 63 |
| 2 | GitLab CI/CD | 27% | 5% | 64 |
| 3 | CircleCI | 4% | 16% | 58 |
| 4 | Jenkins | 2% | 63% | 57 |
| 5 | Azure DevOps | 0% | 12% | 25 |
| 6 | Buildkite | 0% | 19% | 21 |
| 7 | Harness | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 8 | Argo CD | 0% | 8% | 12 |
| 9 | JetBrains TeamCity | 0% | 47% | 17 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD; alternatives Azure DevOps, CircleCI
- GPT-5.4 mini: GitHub Actions; alternatives Azure Pipelines, CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD; alternatives Argo CD
- Perplexity Sonar: GitLab CI/CD; alternatives CircleCI, GitHub Actions, Semaphore
- Grok 4.1 Fast: GitHub Actions; alternatives CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- Mistral Small: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD; alternatives CircleCI, Jenkins
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: GitHub Actions; alternatives GitLab CI/CD
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: GitHub Actions; alternatives CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- Kimi K2: GitHub Actions; alternatives Azure DevOps, CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: GitHub Actions; alternatives Azure Pipelines, CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- MiniMax M2.5: CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD; alternatives Azure DevOps

## Sources the answers cite

63 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- toolradar.com: 35 answers, 45 citations
- checkthat.ai: 25 answers, 28 citations
- devopsness.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- blog.jetbrains.com: 23 answers, 27 citations
- deployhq.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- devopsplatforms.com: 19 answers, 19 citations
- technologymatch.com: 16 answers, 16 citations
- octopus.com: 14 answers, 17 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://toolradar.com/blog/best-ci-cd-tools (34 answers)
- https://devopsness.com/blog/best-cicd-platforms (24 answers)
- https://checkthat.ai/answers/what-are-the-best-ci-cd-tools (23 answers)
- https://deployhq.com/blog/best-ci-cd-software-top-10-tools-to-know-in-2025 (21 answers)
- https://blog.jetbrains.com/teamcity/2026/03/best-ci-tools (19 answers)
- https://devopsplatforms.com/buying-guides/best-ci-cd-platforms (19 answers)
- https://technologymatch.com/blog/jenkins-vs-gitlab-ci-vs-circleci-vs-github-actions-the-ci-cd-decision-guide-in-2026 (15 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-continuous-delivery-tools (12 answers)
- https://cloud.folio3.com/blog/ci-cd-tools-in-2024 (10 answers)
- https://devopstales.com/devops/best-ci-cd-tools-comparison-2026 (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Jenkins: 36 of 57 labels negative. "Jenkins is often described as a legacy platform with high maintenance overhead... the maintenance burden outweighs the benefits." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- CircleCI: 9 of 58 labels negative. "Avoid CircleCI initially: While powerful, its pricing model can spiral quickly" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)
- JetBrains TeamCity: 8 of 17 labels negative. "TeamCity is also considered a legacy CI/CD provider. Many organizations are actively migrating away from it" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Atlassian Bamboo: 5 of 6 labels negative. "EOL August 21, 2026. Atlassian is sunsetting it in favor of Bitbucket Pipelines." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.