Connecting Git version control with CI/CD pipeline automation is the holy grail for today’s cloud-based developer
GitOps has become a popular subset of DevOps for organizations looking to accelerate development workflows and streamline infrastructure management. Version-controlled configurations, deployment automation, and CI/CD pipeline integrations all make GitOps a powerful approach for secure and effective development workflows.
There is no one platform or combination of tools that enables GitOps, because it’s more of a strategic approach than a single software solution. That means modern devs need to critically assess their own needs to find the perfect GitOps tool. In this article, we’ll explore the five leading GitOps tools developers can choose from today and assess the reasons dev teams might pick one over the other.
Dig deeper into GitOps best practices, tools, and more with What is GitOps? A Guide for Developers.
How To Choose the Right GitOps Tool for Your Dev Team
As a quick refresher, GitOps helps developers use Git to automate application deployment and infrastructure provisioning. As an open-source version control program, Git works as an effective single source of truth for declarative infrastructure. GitOps, in turn, prioritizes automation and auditability to accelerate development while also enabling traceability and oversight into every stage of the process. It also improves security, effectiveness, and dependability straight out of the gate.
One of the main draws of GitOps is that implementing the approach does not require a specific toolset or programming language. By design, any GitOps platform must incorporate a range of resources to cover its bases, including version control programs, configuration management tools, CI/CD pipeline, IaC workflows, and more.
With that said, implementing dedicated tools that wrap many of these features into one ecosystem can give developers a faster and smoother on-ramp to the GitOps approach. Here are a few things to consider while searching for the perfect GitOps tool for your team:
- Existing environment: Evaluate the technologies already in your stack and make sure you understand which to prioritize. Finding a GitOps platform that integrates seamlessly with your existing tools will make everything from onboarding to deployment that much easier.
- Education investment: Anytime you introduce a new tool to your dev team, take the time to consider how much of a learning curve they’ll face. If there’s a lot of training and testing standing in the way of achieving actual advantages, that’s an important factor to consider.
- Seamless collaboration: Just like DevOps, GitOps upholds the principles of teamwork and traceability. Make sure the tool you choose fosters collaboration across your team, as well as between your team and other departments in your organization as much as possible.
- Strong support: Whether it’s an active open-source community or a dedicated customer service team, make sure you won’t be alone with the tool you choose. Onboarding, troubleshooting, and developing workflows will all be easier if you have the support you need to get up and running quickly.
The 5 Best GitOps Tools For Modern Devs
1: DuploCloud
DuploCloud is a low-code/no-code DevOps and DevSecOps platform that enables continuous security and compliance for multiple cloud providers. As a cloud automation tool, DuploCloud essentially treats GitOps as a subset of DevOps best practices. It allows dev teams to streamline software development pipelines without disrupting existing workflows. The built-in CI/CD platform and a range of third-party integrations make it easy to deploy applications from any Git repository.
DuploCloud is an ideal GitOps tool for organizations of any size that are interested in centralizing the entire CI/CD workflow into a single platform. It’s also an excellent multi-cloud solution for teams prepared to scale beyond Kubernetes.
Learn more about how DuploCloud helps modern dev teams speed up cloud application deployment by a factor of 10 in our free whitepaper:
2: ArgoCD
ArgoCD is an open-source GitOps tool that automates deployment and simplifies lifecycle management. The Kubernetes-specific tool runs its configuration logic in Git so that developers don’t have to reinvent their workflows and rewrite repositories. ArgoCD also makes it easy to visually manage multi-cluster deployments and supports multiple configuration management tools. Developers can use ArgoCD to automatically deploy desired states in target environments, track updates to branches or tags, and easily issue rollbacks to desired Git commits. However, it’s important to note that ArgoCD is only built to function with Kubernetes, so those using different containerization frameworks will find it lacking.
3: Bitbucket
Bitbucket is one of the best-known GitOps tools today, in large part because it was built by the team at Atlassian. It should come as no surprise that the company purpose-built a GitOps tool designed to integrate with Jira and Confluence, its other leading SaaS platforms. Bitbucket offers all the Git repository support, advanced security protocols, and version control features that devs should expect from the best GitOps tools. But it distinguishes itself by also supporting Mercurial, an alternative to Git, which makes it a great tool for devs who want to implement GitOps principles without switching to Git itself. Just be aware of its limitations before making a final choice.
4: GitHub Actions
GitHub is one of the most popular cloud-based Git platforms, so GitHub Actions is a natural next step for many developers using the platform. GitHub Actions is a flexible GitOps tool that makes it easy to automate CI/CD pipelines, configure Infrastructure as Code, and deploy applications directly from a Git repository. Advanced features like automated package publishing and security scanning options are also highly attractive elements of GitHub Actions. The tool’s close connection with Git and seamless integration with the GitHub platform combine effortless collaboration with all the benefits of auditable version control.
Did you know? DuploCloud’s GitHub integration makes it easy to unify your development workflow, streamlining cloud infrastructure management and application code development in a single tool. Learn more here.
5: Jenkins X
Jenkins is well-established among the developer community as a leading CI/CD engine. But in the past, Jenkins required huge amounts of manual effort, from scripts to configurations and release operations. Jenkins X takes the tool’s stellar reputation and uses that core functionality to automate development pipelines for cloud-native applications built on Kubernetes. It supports complete CI/CD automation, allows devs to preview staging and production environments, and most importantly for the purposes of this list, includes a built-in GitOps tool that many others have sought to copy since it was first released.
Use DuploCloud to Apply GitOps to CI/CD Workflows
GitOps tools will continue to evolve as developers craft more effective workflows and share them with the community. The refinement will come from streamlined automation and increased traceability, not a proliferation of features. If you’re looking for a GitOps tool that connects your Git repository with a robust CI/CD automation pipeline, consider DuploCloud.
Benefit from industry-leading security certifications, top-tier support, and integrations with the critical Git and GitOps tools that already factor into your workflows. Our low-code/no-code DevOps platform accelerates infrastructure provisioning tenfold and helps modern dev teams implement GitOps strategies in no time. Contact us today for a free demo.
