Development Tools · head to head
Buildkite vs Sourcegraph
Buildkite
Development Tools
CI/CD pipelines that run on your own compute
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Sourcegraph
Development Tools
Code search and intelligence platform for large codebases with Cody AI assistant
- From
- $16000/year
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Buildkite has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Buildkite free plan caps at 5 users and 10 concurrent jobs, with 2,000 Linux vCPU minutes per month and 30 day build retention; Sourcegraph enterprise pricing starting at $16k annually creates significant barrier for small teams
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Buildkite and Sourcegraph actually diverge.
| Attribute | Buildkite | Sourcegraph |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | $16000/year |
| Pricing model | freemium | subscription |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web | Cloud, Self-hosted |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Development Tools).
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Buildkite
No use cases recorded yet. See the Buildkite review.
Sourcegraph
- Large-scale code migrations across hundreds of repositoriesnot Buildkite
- Enterprise governance and code ownership trackingnot Buildkite
- AI-assisted bug hunting and security pattern detectionnot Buildkite
- Onboarding engineers into large unfamiliar codebasesnot Buildkite
- Regulatory compliance and code audit trailsnot Buildkite
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Buildkite
- Free plan caps at 5 users and 10 concurrent jobs, with 2,000 Linux vCPU minutes per month and 30 day build retention
- Pro plan is $30 per active user per month, capped at 50 users, with only 10 of the up to 250 concurrent agents included before extra usage
- Enterprise plan enforces a 30 user minimum even though pricing itself is custom
- Hosted compute beyond included minutes is metered at $0.004 per vCPU minute on Linux and $0.02 per vCPU minute on Mac
Sourcegraph
- Enterprise pricing starting at $16k annually creates significant barrier for small teams
- No free tier or standard plan published; all options require custom sales engagement
- Complex enterprise-only positioning limits adoption compared to GitHub Copilot's pervasiveness
- Requires indexing entire codebase; not suitable for small or ephemeral projects
Pricing, plan by plan
Buildkite
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Buildkite review.
Sourcegraph
$16000/year- Enterprise$16000/year
- Scales with team size
- Credits for AI features per user
- Deep Search
Which should you pick?
Questions people ask
- Is Buildkite or Sourcegraph better?
- Neither clearly leads. Buildkite starts at Free and Sourcegraph at $16000/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Buildkite or Sourcegraph?
- Buildkite has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Buildkite and $16000/year for Sourcegraph.
- Does Buildkite or Sourcegraph run on more platforms?
- Buildkite runs on Web. Sourcegraph runs on Cloud, Self-hosted.
- Can I use Buildkite for free?
- Yes. Buildkite has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sourcegraph starts at $16000/year.