Concourse CI vs Drone
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted ci/cd & build options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Concourse CI | Drone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 97 · Excellent |
| Category | CI/CD & Build | CI/CD & Build |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,906 | ★ 38,428 |
| First released | 2014 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Jenkins, CircleCI | Jenkins, CircleCI |
What are Concourse CI and Drone?
Concourse CI
Concourse is an open-source CI/CD system built around the principles of declarative pipelines and reproducible builds. Every task runs in an isolated container for consistent, debuggable builds.
- Declarative YAML pipelines
- Container-isolated tasks
- Visual pipeline graph
- Resource-based design
Drone
Drone is a container-based continuous integration and delivery platform that runs each pipeline step in an isolated container. It targets teams wanting CI defined entirely in code. It is deployed via Docker.
- Pipelines defined as code
- Every step runs in a container
- Many Git provider integrations
- Plugin ecosystem
Concourse CI vs Drone: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Drone is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Concourse CI. Drone has the considerably larger community, at 38,428 GitHub stars versus 7,906.
Why pick each one
Choose Concourse CI if…
- Reproducible builds
- Strong isolation
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
Choose Drone if…
- Clean container model
- Configuration as code
- Scales with runners
Watch out for
- Now under commercial steward
- Spurred the Woodpecker fork
Frequently asked questions
Is Concourse CI or Drone better?
Drone is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Concourse CI if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Concourse CI and Drone free and open-source?
Yes. Concourse CI is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Drone under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Concourse CI and Drone with Docker?
Concourse CI: yes. Drone: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Concourse CI or Drone?
Drone has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Concourse CI. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.