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Concourse vs Woodpecker CI

Self-host pick — both replace CircleCI (Hosted CI/CD).

Both Concourse and Woodpecker CI self-host as a replacement for CircleCI (Hosted CI/CD). Pick Woodpecker CI if you want the lighter footprint — 20min docker-compose (server + runner), $10/mo vps for the server; runners on $5 boxes. Pick Concourse if you need platform / SRE teams that want declarative pipeline-as-data and reproducible builds with explicit resource versioning — 30min docker-compose (web + worker + Postgres) and $15-30/mo vps — workers eat resources during builds.

Concourseopen-sourceWoodpecker CIopen-source
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
Setup time30min docker-compose (web + worker + Postgres)20min docker-compose (server + runner)
Monthly cost$15-30/mo VPS — workers eat resources during builds.$10/mo VPS for the server; runners on $5 boxes.
GitHubconcourse/concourse ★ 7.83k · last commit todayalivewoodpecker-ci/woodpecker ★ 7.02k · last commit todayalive
ReplacesCircleCICircleCI

Good fit for

Concourse

Platform / SRE teams that want declarative pipeline-as-data and reproducible builds with explicit resource versioning.

Weak at:Steep learning curve; the resource/task abstraction is unfamiliar to teams coming from CircleCI's job/step model.

Woodpecker CI

Teams that valued Drone but want a guaranteed-OSS path — Woodpecker has no commercial-tier overhang.

Weak at:Smaller community than Drone; documentation and integrations slightly thinner.

In a terminal? npx -y github:SolvoHQ/os-alt-cli circleci prints CircleCI's self-host options including both — how the CLI works →

FAQ

Which is easier to self-host, Concourse or Woodpecker CI?

Concourse: 30min docker-compose (web + worker + Postgres). Woodpecker CI: 20min docker-compose (server + runner).

What does each cost to run?

Concourse: $15-30/mo VPS — workers eat resources during builds.. Woodpecker CI: $10/mo VPS for the server; runners on $5 boxes.. Both projects are free and open source.

Do Concourse and Woodpecker CI replace the same SaaS?

Yes — both are open-source alternatives to CircleCI.