Editor Sebastiaan Smits ·
Published November 4, 2026 · Updated November 4, 2026
Teams look past TeamCity when the free Professional tier caps them at 100 build configurations and 10 pipelines, when they would rather not run a build server, or when CI should sit inside their code host. Most go to Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD or GitHub Actions.
Short answer: The closest replacements for TeamCity in our CI/CD tools ranking are Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD and GitHub Actions. Choose Jenkins if you want a self-hosted build server with no licence tiers or agent limits. Everything below is drawn from the Best CI/CD Tools in 2026 shortlist and judged only against TeamCity, including when it is wiser to remain with TeamCity.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. The first three alternatives go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure · editorial process.
TeamCity Professional needs no licence key and includes 3 build agents, but allows at most 100 build configurations and 10 pipelines at once, archived ones included. Past that limit, new builds do not run until you delete older ones. Each extra agent license raises the configuration limit by 10.
On Professional, support is limited to the community forum and public issue tracker. Enterprise adds priority support through a private Zendesk instance and a one-year subscription to upgrades, with the licence key required. Teams that want a vendor answer must move up an edition.
The on-premises edition is a server you install, back up and upgrade. JetBrains documents that TeamCity does not support downgrading, so an upgrade cannot be undone without a backup. Teams without operations time may prefer a hosted service.
Rows follow how closely each product can stand in for TeamCity; the closing column is its rank inside our 12-product ranking.
| # | Alternative | Headquarters | Switch if | Our rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jenkins | United States | you want a self-hosted build server with no licence tiers or agent limits | #9 |
| 2 |  GitLab CI/CD | United States | you want CI in the same platform as your repositories, hosted by GitLab or yourself | #5 |
| 3 |  GitHub Actions | United States | your code is already on GitHub and you want workflows beside the repository | #4 |
| 4 |  CircleCI | United States | you want hosted CI with a free plan and credit-based machine sizes | #3 |
| 5 |  Azure Pipelines | United States | you want to pay per parallel job and already use Azure DevOps | #11 |
| 6 |  Bitbucket Pipelines | Australia | your repositories are on Bitbucket Cloud and you want CI bundled with per-user plans | #8 |
| 7 |  Semaphore | Serbia | you would rather pay per build minute with published rates than for agents | #1 |
| 8 |  Harness | United States | you want CI and CD in one modular platform and accept buying through sales | #7 |
| 9 |  Octopus Deploy | Australia | you only need release and deployment automation and will keep a build tool | #6 |
| 10 |  Argo CD | United States | you deploy to Kubernetes from Git and build elsewhere | #10 |
| 11 |  AWS CodePipeline | United States | you deploy on AWS and want to pay per active pipeline or action minute | #12 |
Jenkins describes itself as an open source automation server with hundreds of plugins to build, deploy and automate projects. You install and run it yourself, so there is no licence tier or agent count to buy. The cost moves to the servers and the people who maintain them.
Switch from TeamCity if you want a self-hosted build server with no licence tiers or agent limits.
The Free plan lists 5 users per top-level group and 400 compute minutes a month. Premium is $29 per user per month billed annually with 10,000 minutes, and Ultimate lists 50,000. GitLab offers GitLab.com, Self Managed and Dedicated, so you can host it yourself.
Switch from TeamCity if you want CI in the same platform as your repositories, hosted by GitLab or yourself.
Usage draws from an included amount stated in dollars, not minutes: $12 a month on GitHub Free, $18 on GitHub Team, $300 on Enterprise Cloud. Its docs give $0.006 a minute for a standard Linux runner, and standard runners are free in public repositories.
Switch from TeamCity if your code is already on GitHub and you want workflows beside the repository.
The Free plan is $0 with up to 6,000 build minutes, 5 active users and 30x concurrency. Performance starts at $15 a month with 30,000 credits and 5 users included, and extra users cost $15 a month each. Scale is billed annually and quoted.
Switch from TeamCity if you want hosted CI with a free plan and credit-based machine sizes.
The page lists one free Microsoft-hosted job with 1,800 minutes a month and one free self-hosted job with unlimited minutes. Extra parallel jobs cost $40 for Microsoft-hosted and $15 for self-hosted, each with unlimited minutes. Priced per parallel job, not per user or per agent.
Switch from TeamCity if you want to pay per parallel job and already use Azure DevOps.
CI sold inside Bitbucket Cloud. Free covers up to 5 users with 50 build minutes to start, Standard is $3.65 per user per month and Premium $8. Build minutes and storage are shared across the workspace, and a 2x runner counts each minute twice.
Switch from TeamCity if your repositories are on Bitbucket Cloud and you want CI bundled with per-user plans.
Pay as you go with no seat price shown: Ubuntu x64 2-vCPU at $0.0075 a minute, self-hosted at $0.0025 a minute, and $15 of free credit a month. It includes 20 concurrent jobs by default. Support is sold separately, from $50 a month.
Switch from TeamCity if you would rather pay per build minute with published rates than for agents.
Harness lists a Free plan with community support, plus Essentials and Enterprise plans that are sold through sales with no prices shown. Essentials bundles CI, CD, infrastructure as code and security testing orchestration. Enterprise lets you pick modules and lists a self-managed platform as an add-on.
Switch from TeamCity if you want CI and CD in one modular platform and accept buying through sales.
Octopus is for deployment and release, not for building. Its Free plan allows 10 projects, 10 tenants, 10 machines and 1 space. Professional is $4,330 a year and starts at 20 projects. It lists build server integrations, so it sits behind a CI tool.
Switch from TeamCity if you only need release and deployment automation and will keep a build tool.
Argo CD is a declarative GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes, under the Apache-2.0 licence on GitHub. It has no build stage, so it replaces only the deploy half of a TeamCity setup. You install it into a cluster with kubectl.
Switch from TeamCity if you deploy to Kubernetes from Git and build elsewhere.
Priced by usage, with no upfront fees: V1 pipelines cost $1.00 per active pipeline a month, V2 pipelines $0.002 per action execution minute. Pipelines are free for the first 30 days after creation, and manual approval actions are not charged.
Switch from TeamCity if you deploy on AWS and want to pay per active pipeline or action minute.
Stay with TeamCity if three agents, 100 build configurations and 10 pipelines cover your work, since Professional costs nothing and carries the full feature set otherwise. It also fits teams that want settings kept in version control through Kotlin DSL and are content to host their own server.
TeamCity can back up the database, project settings, build configurations and secure values from the web UI or the maintainDB tool. Build artifacts are not included, so copy them by hand. Settings stored as Kotlin DSL stay in your repository and remain readable after you leave.
TeamCity stores build configurations in its own format, so plan to rebuild each configuration, build chain and trigger in the new syntax. Run both systems side by side on one project first, then retire TeamCity once builds match.
Use the backup action in the web UI or the maintainDB command-line tool. Both can include database data, project settings, build configurations and secure values. Build artifacts are not part of the backup, so copy the artifacts directory manually.
Yes, TeamCity Professional is free, needs no licence key and includes 3 build agents. It caps the server at 100 build configurations and 10 pipelines, and support is limited to the community forum and public issue tracker.
New builds stop running until you remove older configurations or pipelines. The licensing policy says the limit includes archived ones, and that it rises by 10 configurations for each additional agent license you buy.
No, the documentation states that the TeamCity server does not support downgrading. Take a backup before every upgrade, and keep the old version's distribution if you may need to go back.
Yes, the documentation notes that TeamCity Cloud is released and has its own documentation site. We did not read its pricing, so check that site before comparing it with a hosted alternative.
Jenkins keeps you self-hosted, while GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, CircleCI and Semaphore are hosted options. Each prices differently, by user, by included usage or by build minute, so check the plan against your monthly build volume.
Prices, limits and descriptions for TeamCity and each alternative were confirmed on vendor-owned pages on November 4, 2026. A later change on the vendor side will not show here.
Sebastiaan Smits, Founder, wrote, edited and fact-checked this page.
Founder of The Interregnum and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page here; research and drafting are AI-assisted. Last reviewed November 4, 2026.
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