Testing · alternatives
Alternatives to CircleCI
24 testing tools sit alongside CircleCI in this directory. Below is what separates each from CircleCI on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 24
- With a free tier
- 14
- Cheaper to start
- 2
- CircleCI starts at
- Free, then $15/month
Why people look past CircleCI
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. CircleCI has a free tier, and starts at $15/month against a category median of $45/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
REST and GraphQL API client for development and testing
- Starts $15 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
Real device cloud for web and mobile testing
- No free tier, where CircleCI has one.
- Starts $2.5 a month cheaper, at $12.5/month.
- 10 tiers to CircleCI's 3.
Visual feedback and bug tracking for websites
- Starts $35 a month dearer, at $50/month.
- 4 tiers to CircleCI's 3.
JavaScript end-to-end testing framework with browser-based runner and cloud service
- Starts $52 a month dearer, at $67/month.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
- 5 tiers to CircleCI's 3.
Open source mobile automation framework hosted under the OpenJS Foundation with copyright assigned to the foundation
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than subscription.
- 1 tier to CircleCI's 3.
Open source end-to-end testing framework for React Native apps, built and maintained by Wix
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than subscription.
- 1 tier to CircleCI's 3.
Every CircleCI alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CircleCI (this page) | Free, then $15/month | Subscription | 3 | |
| InsomniaREST and GraphQL API client for development and testing | Free | Freemium | 3 | vs CircleCI |
| BrowserStackReal device cloud for web and mobile testing | $12.5/month | Subscription | 10 | vs CircleCI |
| BugHerdVisual feedback and bug tracking for websites | Free, then $50/month | Subscription | 4 | vs CircleCI |
| CypressJavaScript end-to-end testing framework with browser-based runner and cloud service | Free, then $67/month | Freemium | 5 | vs CircleCI |
| Appium | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| Detox | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| JUnit | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| WebdriverIO | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| Jest | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| Cucumber | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| TestNG | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| pytest | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| Percy | Free | Freemium, paid tiers by screenshot volume | 2 | vs CircleCI |
| GrowthBook | Free, then $40/month | Per user per month | 4 | vs CircleCI |
| Qase | Free | Per user per month | 2 | vs CircleCI |
| PractiTest | On request | Per user per month, yearly minimum on Corporate tier | 2 | vs CircleCI |
| Ranorex | On request | Quote | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| Xray Test Management | On request | Per Jira user per month, tiered to total instance size | 3 | vs CircleCI |
| Katalon | On request | Per seat per month, plus separate per-session cloud execution charges | 3 | vs CircleCI |
| Sauce Labs | On request | Per month by parallel session count and device category | 4 | vs CircleCI |
| Applitools | On request | Per month by checkpoint volume | 3 | vs CircleCI |
| Kameleoon | On request | Quote | 1 | vs CircleCI |
| Split | On request | Quote | 3 | vs CircleCI |
| mabl | On request | Quote | 1 | vs CircleCI |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the CircleCI badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than CircleCI (2)
Entry price under CircleCI's $15/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Insomnia , Free
- BrowserStack , $12.5/month
What you would be giving up
CircleCI is most often brought in for continuous integration pipelines for application code, parallel test execution across containers, docker-based builds with layer caching, deployment pipelines with approval gates, self-hosted runners for private infrastructure. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If CircleCI is broadly right and the question is cost, the CircleCI pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Testing category lists everything the directory holds, and best testing tools ranks them.
CircleCI runs on not recorded. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about CircleCI alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to CircleCI?
- 24 other testing tools are listed in this directory, led by Insomnia, BrowserStack, BugHerd, Cypress. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to CircleCI?
- 14 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Insomnia, BugHerd, Cypress, Appium, Detox.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to CircleCI?
- Yes. 2 of the alternatives below start under CircleCI's $15/month: Insomnia at Free, BrowserStack at $12.5/month.
- Is there a reason to switch away from CircleCI?
- Nothing in the data flags one. CircleCI has a free tier, and starts at $15/month against a category median of $45/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from CircleCI?
- CircleCI is most often brought in for continuous integration pipelines for application code, parallel test execution across containers, docker-based builds with layer caching, deployment pipelines with approval gates, self-hosted runners for private infrastructure. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to CircleCI?
- None of the testing tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these CircleCI alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Testing, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare CircleCI against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against CircleCI covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every testing tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Testing category, 24 tools beside CircleCI. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.