Testing & QA · head to head
Cypress vs CircleCI
Cypress
Testing & QA
JavaScript end-to-end testing framework with browser-based runner and cloud service
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Cypress limited to web applications; mobile and desktop app testing not supported; CircleCI the free plan covers 6,000 build minutes and 5 active users a month
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cypress and CircleCI actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Testing & QA).
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cypress
- End-to-end testing for modern JavaScript web applicationsnot CircleCI
- Continuous integration pipelines with parallelised test executionnot CircleCI
- Visual regression testing and accessibility verificationnot CircleCI
- Flaky test detection and eliminationnot CircleCI
- Team collaboration on test maintenance and debuggingnot CircleCI
CircleCI
- Continuous integration pipelines for application codenot Cypress
- Parallel test execution across containersnot Cypress
- Docker-based builds with layer cachingnot Cypress
- Deployment pipelines with approval gatesnot Cypress
- Self-hosted runners for private infrastructurenot Cypress
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Cypress
- Limited to web applications; mobile and desktop app testing not supported
- Free tier capped at 500 test results/month; insufficient for most development teams
- Paid features (flake detection, analytics) not included in free tier
- JavaScript/TypeScript focused; less suitable for polyglot organisations
CircleCI
- The free plan covers 6,000 build minutes and 5 active users a month
- Active users are billed at $15 each beyond the included five, and an active user is anyone who commits to a project
- Everything runs on credits, so compute, Docker layer caching at 200 credits a job and IP ranges at 450 credits per GB all draw from the same pool
- Network and storage overage costs 420 credits per GB
- Free credits expire monthly with no rollover, and paid credits expire after a year
- Scale is annual billing only
Pricing, plan by plan
Cypress
Free- Starter (Free)Free
- 500 test results/month
- 100 prompt executions/month
- Parallelisation
- Team$67/month
- 120k test results/year
- 9k prompt executions/year
- Flake detection
- Business$267/month
- 120k test results/year
- 24k prompt executions/year
- Spec prioritisation
- Enterprise$null/custom
- 1.8M test results/year
- 60k prompt executions/year
- Unlimited users
CircleCI
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the CircleCI review.
Which should you pick?
Questions people ask
- Is Cypress or CircleCI better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cypress starts at Free and CircleCI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cypress or CircleCI?
- Cypress starts at Free and CircleCI at Free.
- Does Cypress or CircleCI run on more platforms?
- Cypress runs on macOS, Windows, Linux. CircleCI runs on Web.
- Can I use Cypress for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Cypress best used for?
- Cypress is most often used for end-to-end testing for modern javascript web applications, continuous integration pipelines with parallelised test execution, visual regression testing and accessibility verification, flaky test detection and elimination. Of those, end-to-end testing for modern javascript web applications and continuous integration pipelines with parallelised test execution are not what CircleCI is typically brought in for.