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

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "CI/CD platform" and as "continuous integration and delivery tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/ci-cd-platforms/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/ci-cd-platforms/index.md

**Standing:** GitHub Actions leads with 68% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 56 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [GitHub Actions](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/github-actions/index.md) | 68% | 7% | 68 |
| 2 | [GitLab CI/CD](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/gitlab-ci-cd/index.md) | 23% | 7% | 73 |
| 3 | [CircleCI](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/circleci/index.md) | 4% | 19% | 64 |
| 4 | [Buildkite](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/buildkite/index.md) | 2% | 21% | 19 |
| 7 | [Azure DevOps](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-devops/index.md) | 0% | 5% | 22 |
| 8 | [Azure Pipelines](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-pipelines/index.md) | 0% | 11% | 19 |
| 9 | [Argo CD](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/argo-cd/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 10 | [Harness](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/harness/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 12 |
| 11 | [JetBrains TeamCity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jetbrains-teamcity/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 24 |
| 43 | [Jenkins](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jenkins/index.md) | 0% | 52% | 65 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 43 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: GitHub Actions; alternatives Azure Pipelines, CircleCI
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: GitHub Actions; alternatives Argo CD, GitLab CI/CD, Harness
- Perplexity Sonar: GitLab CI/CD; alternatives GitHub Actions
- Grok 4.20: GitHub Actions; alternatives CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- Mistral Small: CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD; alternatives Buildkite, JetBrains TeamCity
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: GitHub Actions; alternatives GitLab CI/CD
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: GitHub Actions; alternatives GitLab CI/CD
- Kimi K2: GitHub Actions; alternatives CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: GitHub Actions; alternatives Azure Pipelines, CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- MiniMax M2.5: GitHub Actions; alternatives CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- GPT-6 Luna: GitHub Actions; alternatives Buildkite, CircleCI, GitLab CI/CD
- Muse Glimmer 30B: GitHub Actions; alternatives GitLab CI/CD

## Sources the answers cite

70 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- blog.jetbrains.com: 38 answers, 51 citations
- atlassian.com: 24 answers, 27 citations
- dev.to: 23 answers, 30 citations
- circleci.com: 22 answers, 27 citations
- octopus.com: 18 answers, 26 citations
- drizz.dev: 18 answers, 18 citations
- harness.io: 17 answers, 22 citations
- learn.g2.com: 17 answers, 17 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://blog.jetbrains.com/teamcity/2026/03/best-ci-tools (33 answers)
- https://atlassian.com/devops/devops-tools/cicd-tools (22 answers)
- https://drizz.dev/post/continuous-build-tools-compared-7-ci-cd-tools-and-how-to-pick-one (18 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-continuous-delivery-tools (17 answers)
- https://deployhq.com/blog/best-ci-cd-software-top-10-tools-to-know-in-2025 (15 answers)
- https://northflank.com/blog/best-ci-cd-tools (15 answers)
- https://cloud.folio3.com/blog/ci-cd-tools-in-2024 (14 answers)
- https://dupple.com/learn/best-ci-cd-tools (14 answers)
- https://zendikt.com/top-10-cicd-software/united-states (14 answers)
- https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/CI_CD_Security_Cheat_Sheet.html (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Jenkins: 34 of 65 labels negative. "Jenkins is often described as a legacy platform with high maintenance overhead... the maintenance burden outweighs the benefits." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- CircleCI: 12 of 64 labels negative. "most companies have migrated to GitHub Actions to avoid paying for two separate platform subscriptions" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, direct prompt)
- Travis CI: 9 of 9 labels negative. "Jenkins and Travis CI are the ones to most strongly avoid for new projects in 2025." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- GitHub Actions: 5 of 68 labels negative. "GitHub Actions workflows that trust third-party actions or pull-request code too much" (GPT-6 Luna, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: GitHub Actions at 63%.

- GitHub Actions: 65% to 63%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 1 of 39, unchanged.
- Buildkite: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 4 of 39.
- Jenkins: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 39 of 39.
- GitLab CI/CD: 27% to 27%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 2 of 39, unchanged.
- CircleCI: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 3 of 39, unchanged.
- Azure DevOps: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 7 of 39.
- Azure Pipelines: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 8 of 39.
- Argo CD: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 of 39, unchanged.
- JetBrains TeamCity: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 42 → 10 of 39.
- Harness: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 → 11 of 39.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.