Service Comparison - DevOps and CI/CD¶

Overview¶

This guide compares CI/CD services, infrastructure as code tools, and DevOps platforms across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and popular third-party options like GitHub Actions and GitLab CI. Understanding these tools is essential for DevOps and platform engineering certification exams.

CI/CD Pipeline Services¶

CodePipeline vs Azure DevOps vs Cloud Build¶

GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI¶

Build Services Deep Dive¶

AWS CodeBuild vs Azure Pipelines Agents vs Cloud Build Workers¶

Source Code Management¶

CodeCommit vs Azure Repos vs Cloud Source Repositories¶

Note: Most teams use GitHub or GitLab as their primary source repository regardless of cloud provider.

Artifact Management¶

CodeArtifact vs Azure Artifacts vs Artifact Registry¶

Infrastructure as Code¶

CloudFormation vs Bicep/ARM vs Deployment Manager/Terraform¶

Terraform Cross-Cloud Comparison¶

Deployment Strategies¶

Blue/Green and Canary Deployment¶

GitOps Tools¶

DevOps Monitoring and Feedback¶

Pipeline Observability¶

Software Supply Chain Security¶

CI/CD Pipeline Patterns¶

Recommended Architecture per Cloud¶

AWS Pipeline Architecture:

GitHub/CodeCommit -> CodePipeline -> CodeBuild -> ECR -> CodeDeploy -> ECS/EKS
                                        |
                                   CodeArtifact (packages)
                                   Inspector (scanning)

Azure Pipeline Architecture:

Azure Repos/GitHub -> Azure Pipelines -> ACR -> Azure Pipelines (release) -> AKS/App Service
                                          |
                                     Azure Artifacts
                                     Defender for DevOps

GCP Pipeline Architecture:

GitHub/CSR -> Cloud Build -> Artifact Registry -> Cloud Deploy -> GKE/Cloud Run
                                    |
                              Artifact Analysis
                              Binary Authorization

Cost Comparison¶

Monthly Cost Estimate (Small Team - 5 Developers)¶

Certification Exam Focus Areas¶

AWS DevOps Professional (DOP-C02)¶

• CodePipeline stages, actions, and transitions
• CodeBuild buildspec.yml structure and environment variables
• CodeDeploy deployment configurations (in-place, blue/green)
• CloudFormation stack policies, drift detection, StackSets
• EventBridge integration for pipeline automation

Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)¶

• Azure Pipelines YAML vs Classic
• Multi-stage pipeline design
• Azure Artifacts feeds and upstream sources
• Deployment slots and swap operations
• Azure Boards integration and work item tracking

Google Cloud DevOps Engineer¶

• Cloud Build trigger types and substitution variables
• Cloud Deploy delivery pipelines and targets
• Artifact Registry cleanup policies
• Binary Authorization attestation workflow
• SRE principles and error budgets

Documentation Links¶

• AWS CodePipeline: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codepipeline/latest/userguide/
• AWS CodeBuild: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codebuild/latest/userguide/
• AWS CodeDeploy: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codedeploy/latest/userguide/
• Azure DevOps: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/
• Azure Pipelines: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/
• Google Cloud Build: https://cloud.google.com/build/docs
• Google Cloud Deploy: https://cloud.google.com/deploy/docs
• GitHub Actions: https://docs.github.com/en/actions
• GitLab CI/CD: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/
• Terraform: https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/docs

Key Takeaways¶

1. Azure DevOps provides the most complete all-in-one DevOps platform (repos, boards, pipelines, artifacts, test plans)
2. GitHub Actions offers the best developer experience and marketplace ecosystem
3. AWS CodePipeline is most suitable when deep AWS integration is required
4. Cloud Build is cost-effective and provides strong supply chain security (SLSA Level 3)
5. GitLab CI/CD excels in built-in security scanning (SAST, DAST, dependency scanning)
6. Most organizations use a hybrid approach - GitHub/GitLab for source + cloud-native tools for deployment
7. GitOps (Flux/ArgoCD) is becoming the standard for Kubernetes deployments across all clouds
8. Supply chain security (SBOM, signing, provenance) is increasingly important for exam questions

Related Guides: - Containers and Kubernetes Comparison - Observability and Monitoring Comparison - Security Tools Comparison - IaC Tool Decision Matrix