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Technology · head to head

Jenkins vs Monday Sales CRM

Jenkins logo

Jenkins

Technology

A self-hosted automation server that can build almost anything, through a plugin ecosystem that is also its main liability.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Monday Sales CRM logo

Monday Sales CRM

Remote Work

Sales management and CRM platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Jenkins has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Jenkins the controller is stateful and, in the open source distribution, has no high availability: build history, configuration and plugin state live on one filesystem, so every plugin upgrade and core update is downtime for every team using it, and a controller disk failure is a restore-from-backup event.; Monday Sales CRM every CRM plan carries a 3 seat minimum, so a solo user or a pair still pay for three
  • They diverge on capability: Jenkins covers Plugin ecosystem, Monday Sales CRM covers Deal management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Jenkins and Monday Sales CRM actually diverge.

Attributes where Jenkins and Monday Sales CRM differ
AttributeJenkinsMonday Sales CRM
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelopen-sourcesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Macos, DockerWeb, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android
CategoryTechnologyRemote Work
Founded20112012

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Jenkins

  • Plugin ecosystem
  • Distributed agents
  • Declarative and scripted pipelines
  • Shared libraries
  • Configuration as Code
  • Credentials management
  • Self-hosted anywhere
  • Multibranch and organisation folders

Only in Monday Sales CRM

  • Deal management
  • Lead tracking
  • Pipeline
  • Automations
  • Reporting
  • Slack
  • Zapier
  • Google Drive

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Jenkins

  • Builds that must touch physical hardware, such as embedded devices, test rigs or signing modules attached to a specific machinenot Monday Sales CRM
  • Air-gapped or heavily regulated environments where a hosted CI runner cannot be used at allnot Monday Sales CRM
  • Toolchains that hosted CI does not support, including node-locked commercial licences for EDA, CAD or simulation softwarenot Monday Sales CRM
  • Organisations with years of existing Jenkins pipelines where the migration cost currently outweighs the operational cost of stayingnot Monday Sales CRM

Monday Sales CRM

  • Sales pipeline and contact management on the monday platformnot Jenkins
  • Tracking deals and automating sales follow upnot Jenkins

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Jenkins

  • The controller is stateful and, in the open source distribution, has no high availability: build history, configuration and plugin state live on one filesystem, so every plugin upgrade and core update is downtime for every team using it, and a controller disk failure is a restore-from-backup event.
  • Capability comes from around 1,900 community plugins of very uneven maintenance, and the Jenkins security team regularly publishes advisories for plugins whose maintainer has gone; in some cases the advisory itself states that no fix is available and the only remedy is to stop using it.
  • Plugin upgrades are coupled: one plugin can require a newer core or a newer version of another plugin, so applying a single security fix cascades into a coordinated upgrade of a dozen components on a timetable you did not choose.
  • Pipelines are Groovy running under a sandbox and a continuation-passing-style transformation, so ordinary Groovy constructs sometimes fail in non-obvious ways, and the debugging skill you build transfers to no other CI system.
  • It is free to licence and expensive to run: somebody must own the controller, the agents, the Java version, the credentials store and the plugin upgrade cycle, and that recurring staff cost is the usual reason organisations move to hosted CI even when Jenkins works.
  • Leaving is costly by construction, because shared libraries, plugin-specific pipeline steps and accumulated freestyle jobs have no mechanical translation into GitHub Actions or GitLab CI, so the migration is a rewrite whose price grows every year you defer it.

Monday Sales CRM

  • Every CRM plan carries a 3 seat minimum, so a solo user or a pair still pay for three
  • Automation actions are metered monthly, at 250 on Standard against 25,000 on Pro, a hundredfold gap between adjacent tiers
  • The CRM is priced above the general Work Management product at the same tier, at 12 EUR against 9 EUR per seat on Basic
  • Published rates require annual billing, with monthly costing more
  • The Ultimate tier is custom priced

Pricing, plan by plan

Jenkins

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Unlimited builds
    • 1000+ plugins
    • Self-hosted
  • CloudBees CI$undefined/month
    • Enterprise features
    • High availability
    • Role-based access

Monday Sales CRM

On request
  • Sales$15/month
    • Up to 5 users
    • Sales features
    • Automations
  • Sales+$35/month
    • Unlimited users
    • Advanced features
    • API access

Which should you pick?

Choose Jenkins if

  • You need plugin ecosystem.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Macos, Docker.
  • You also want distributed agents.
Jenkins review

Choose Monday Sales CRM if

  • You need deal management.
  • You work on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.
  • You also want lead tracking.
Monday Sales CRM review

Questions people ask

Is Jenkins or Monday Sales CRM better?
Neither clearly leads. Jenkins starts at Free and Monday Sales CRM at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Jenkins or Monday Sales CRM?
Jenkins has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Jenkins and On request for Monday Sales CRM.
Does Jenkins or Monday Sales CRM run on more platforms?
Jenkins runs on Linux, Windows, Macos, Docker. Monday Sales CRM runs on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.
Can I use Jenkins for free?
Yes. Jenkins has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Monday Sales CRM starts at On request.
What is Jenkins best used for?
Jenkins is most often used for builds that must touch physical hardware, such as embedded devices, test rigs or signing modules attached to a specific machine, air-gapped or heavily regulated environments where a hosted ci runner cannot be used at all, toolchains that hosted ci does not support, including node-locked commercial licences for eda, cad or simulation software, organisations with years of existing jenkins pipelines where the migration cost currently outweighs the operational cost of staying. Of those, builds that must touch physical hardware, such as embedded devices, test rigs or signing modules attached to a specific machine and air-gapped or heavily regulated environments where a hosted ci runner cannot be used at all are not what Monday Sales CRM is typically brought in for.
What can Jenkins do that Monday Sales CRM cannot?
Jenkins covers Plugin ecosystem, Distributed agents, Declarative and scripted pipelines, Shared libraries. Monday Sales CRM covers Deal management, Lead tracking, Pipeline, Automations.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Jenkins: Why choose Jenkins over GitHub Actions or GitLab CI?

When the build needs something hosted runners cannot give you: physical hardware, an air-gapped network, a node-locked commercial tool licence, or an unusual platform. If none of those apply, hosted CI is usually less work to own.

Jenkins: Can Jenkins run in high availability?

Not in the open source distribution, which runs a single active controller. High availability and active-active controllers are features of CloudBees' commercial products. Open source deployments mitigate it with fast restores and, sometimes, multiple independent controllers.

Jenkins: How risky are the plugins?

This is the main operational risk. Many plugins have a single volunteer maintainer, and Jenkins publishes security advisories for unmaintained plugins where no fix exists. Auditing which plugins you depend on and who maintains them should be a periodic task, not a one-off.

Jenkins: Do I need to know Groovy?

For declarative pipelines you can go a long way without it. Anything involving shared libraries, conditional logic or custom steps is Groovy, and it runs in a sandboxed, transformed environment where standard Groovy idioms sometimes behave unexpectedly.

Jenkins: What does it cost?

The software is free under the MIT licence. The cost is infrastructure and staff time to run controllers, agents and upgrades, plus a CloudBees subscription if you want high availability, support or centralised management of many controllers.

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