GoCD vs Microsoft Azure DevOps comparison

Thoughtworks and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. Thoughtworks is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.3, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. Thoughtworks holds a 0.2% mindshare in ALM, compared to Microsoft’s 14.8% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Thoughtworks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

GoCD

Read 7 GoCD reviews

881 Views
141 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Read 135 Microsoft Azure DevOps reviews

19,445 Views
8,361 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

GoCD

Microsoft Azure DevOps

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

GoCD and Microsoft Azure DevOps are both key players in the continuous delivery and integration market. Microsoft Azure DevOps has the upper hand due to its comprehensive suite of integrated services and versatility across various project environments.

Features: GoCD provides robust pipeline modelling, precise visualization tools, and flexible deployments, making it ideal for clear visibility and control over the delivery process. Microsoft Azure DevOps offers a suite of services like repositories, agile tools, and Azure Pipelines, enhancing collaboration and project management while ensuring seamless integration with various Microsoft and third-party products.

Room for Improvement: GoCD can improve by expanding its plugin ecosystem to increase extensibility, enhancing community support, and simplifying its interface for new users. Microsoft Azure DevOps could benefit from further streamlining user permissions, improving integration with non-Microsoft products, and offering more intuitive navigation for less tech-savvy users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GoCD supports on-premise deployment with customization options, ideal for security needs, yet requires significant manual setup. Microsoft Azure DevOps provides both cloud-based and on-premise solutions through Azure's infrastructure, featuring automated deployment processes and highly responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: GoCD is cost-effective for smaller teams with lower setup costs. Microsoft Azure DevOps, while potentially costlier upfront, yields a substantial ROI with its extensive features and scalability, appealing to larger enterprises looking for an all-encompassing DevOps solution.

To learn more, read our detailed GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

July 2025

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Helped 865,164 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

GoCD

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

15th

Ranking in Release Automation

10th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Build Automation (16th)

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

2nd

Ranking in Release Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

135

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of GoCD is 0.2%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 14.8%, down from 23.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

Nishant Narayan Singh

DevOps Architect at Cognizant

Simplifies the pipeline process, but the access control system needs enhancement

One area of product improvement is the access control system. It is difficult to assign different access levels because it relies on separate keys for developer and admin access, which could be simplified. The folder structure is another aspect that could be enhanced, as all jobs are displayed on a single page without the clear organization seen in Jenkins. Implementing a more structured approach to organizing jobs would improve user experience. AI could simplify job creation. For example, instead of manually editing pipelines as code, an AI tool could allow users to input variables and automatically generate the required jobs. It would help reduce human errors, such as issues that arise from incorrect edits in large code files.

Read full review

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

Facilitates agile transformation with potential for enhanced intuitiveness

What I liked about the solution is that it offers numerous features that are not available by default unless you are agile. Transitioning from the traditional Waterfall model to an agile methodology was challenging for us. Until 2020, our team predominantly worked with the Waterfall approach, using local tools like ServiceNow. We had a few team members who were familiar with Agile ISO, but none had experience with Azure. Therefore, we pursued Azure certification at the AZ-900 level. Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months. This preparation helped us get accustomed to the new tool, as transitioning to a new system invariably requires time. Managing a pipeline of deliverables became significantly easier with this solution. We utilized it for stories and integrated change management with Azure DevOps. Eventually, everything related to the environment was organized there, enabling us to follow up and track progress with our technical engineers on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Reports were automatically generated and sent to management, offering them insights into our progress concerning the predefined roadmap.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Permission separations mean that we can grant limited permissions for each team or team member."

"The most notable aspect is its user interface, which we find to be user-friendly and straightforward for deploying and comprehending pipelines. We have the ability to create multiple pipelines, and in addition to that, the resource consumption is impressive."

"GoCD's open-source nature is valuable."

"The UI is colorful."

"The simplicity is very good and the customer experience is also great."

"It is stable, and we have had no issues with it."

"My first impression of DevOps, after using Jira, is that it has a much better, more intuitive, and more user-friendly interface."

"They have been lately adding features to the services on a regular basis. Every two weeks, they are adding functionality to Azure DevOps Services to match it with what Azure DevOps Server or on-prem would offer. So, we continue to get more robust functionality. My favorite right now is that they are starting to open up the API availability within Azure DevOps Services. Another thing that I like about Azure DevOps is that you can use it with any of the products that are on the market. You can integrate it with Jenkins and other open-source products to complete that fully functional CI, CD, CT, CM, and CS pipeline. It continues to enhance."

"What I like most about Azure DevOps is how easy it is to manage projects and control deployments."

"If someone is considering developing and deploying the infrastructure in this solution, then using this tool is perfect because it's fully integrated with the pipelines and with a server core repository."

"It's got something that you won't find in other products."

"The build and release management features are valuable."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pros

Cons

"The aspect that requires attention is the user management component. When integrating with BitLabs and authenticating through GitLab, there are specific features we desire. One important feature is the ability to import users directly from GitLab, along with their respective designations, and assign appropriate privileges based on that information. Allocating different privileges to users is a time-consuming process for us."

"The documentation really should be improved by including real examples and more setup cases."

"The tool must be more user-friendly."

"It is difficult to assign different access levels because it relies on separate keys for developer and admin access, which could be simplified."

"Microsoft Azure DevOps could improve by providing better integration with other tools. It is very easy to integrate with Azure, but when you need to integrate with other solutions, such as Amazon Web Services, is difficult."

"The active directory password system needs some improvement because many times the password for the active directory expires before the set time."

"The tool was developed for Agile project methodology, but I've noticed that there has also been a try to incorporate what is typically done in MS Project, which is for more sequential Waterfall projects. The problem with that is that it is half-baked for Waterfall projects. If you're going to do it, then either go all the way and allow us to use the tool for both or don't do it at all."

"Microsoft Azure DevOps doesn't have an ITSM tool compared to its competitors."

"Azure DevOps is set up more for development and less for testing. If it is set up correctly, everyone can use it better, but it was set up from a development point of view, which means it is lacking in what I need from a testing perspective. Just like any other tool, it depends on how it is configured. I am not happy with the way it is set up. It is configured more from a development side, and it doesn't necessarily cater to all the other areas that probably need to use it, such as testing data, etc."

"I want DevOps to have more automated reminders about tasks that don't need management. We don't have reminders, so a project manager must track the tasks. It's not automatic."

"When comparing with Jira, I find that the task management capabilities in Azure DevOps are not yet fully comprehensive and should be enhanced."

"We would like some bidirectional synchronization. It's the requirement if you want to analyze it to software requirements, et cetera. That's something that most of the tools aren't that good at."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution and it is inexpensive."

"It's an open-source and free tool."

"It has an annual subscription. It can be cheaper for partners. Many open-source products are available in the market, and it would be great if they can be a little bit more competitive in terms of pricing. A lot of startups are looking for an open-source, free, or cheap solution. If they can accommodate such requirements, it will be good for the product in the long run."

"The price is reasonable, but of course, you can find others that are cheaper such as Atlassian."

"There are additional costs for some functionality, such as increased scalability."

"Compared to other tools, Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cheap solution."

"For Microsoft, it can get expensive when you need heavy-duty machines."

"When compared to other vendors, it is cheaper."

"We have an MPN subscription for Microsoft Azure DevOps, and it's all included."

"As the cost structure is per user, I would recommend paying the cost structure based on the amount of data you use rather than the number of users."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GoCD?

The UI is colorful.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GoCD?

The product is free of cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GoCD?

See all answers

Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...

See all answers

Which is better - TFS or Azure DevOps?

TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very fri...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.

See all answers

Comparisons

Jenkins vs GoCD

Compared 31% of the time

GitLab vs GoCD

Compared 30% of the time

GitHub Actions vs GoCD

Compared 20% of the time

Tekton vs GoCD

Compared 10% of the time

More GoCD Competitors

GitLab vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 40% of the time

Jira vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 13% of the time

Rally Software vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 6% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 4% of the time

TFS vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Azure DevOps Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

August 2025

Download GoCD product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure DevOps

August 2025

Download Microsoft Azure DevOps product report

Also Known As

Adaptive ALM, Thoughtworks Go

Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps

Overview

GoCD is an open source continuous delivery server created by ThoughtWorks. GoCD offers businesses a first-class build and deployment engine for complete control and visibility. It was designed for continuous delivery and the concepts essential to this practice are built in at the core.

Thoughtworks

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cloud service that enables developers to collaborate on code development projects and create and deploy applications quicker than ever before. The service helps unite developers, project managers, and software development experts through a collaborative experience while using the application. For the users' convenience, Azure DevOps offers the user cloud services through Azure DevOps Services or an on-premises service using Azure DevOps Server. In addition, it supports integration with additional services and adding extensions, including the ability for the user to create their own custom extensions.

Azure DevOps provides a variety of unified features that can be accessed through their web browser or IDE client, such as:

Azure Pipelines - Develop and deploy services to support ongoing application integration and delivery. Azure pipelines, which work with almost every project type and most languages, will automatically test code projects in order to make them available to others.
Azure Artifacts - Share packages and integrate package sharing between teams. Packages include NuGet, npm, and Maven, in addition to other private and public sources. Developers can now share and consume packages with other developers from different public registries.
Azure Repos - Offers source control of your code through Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) or Git repositories. Developers can now keep track of any changes that are made in their code over the course of their project.
Azure Test Plans - Offers continuous and manual/exploratory app testing through several tools. Test Suites, or a collection of Test Cases, are grouped together in a container called a Test Plan.
Azure Boards - Provides a suite of Agile tools to track work, support planning, code defects, and general issues while using Kanban and Scrum software. Teams are in need of tools that are flexible and will help them grow. Azure Boards is a service that helps developers manage their software projects.

Benefits of Microsoft Azure DevOps

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers many benefits, including:

A quick setup and easy deployment
An elastic scale
Exceptional security
No-maintenance operations
Effortless collaboration through domains
The ability to create and deploy products faster than traditional software

Reviews from Real Users

Microsoft Azure DevOps stands out among its competitors for a variety of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to forecast how long each task will take and the ability for users to follow the entire development process.

PeerSpot viewers note the effectiveness of this solution. An executive chief operating officer for a cloud provider notes, “We can forecast tasks and the number of hours a task will take and can compare it with how long a task actually takes.”

Carlos H., a product and system director at SPCM, writes, “I think the most usable thing is that you can follow the whole progress of the development process. This makes it very useful for us.”

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Ancestry.com, Barclay Card, AutoTrader, BT Financial Group, Gamesys, Nike, Vodafone, Haufe Lexware, Medidata, Hoovers

Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype

Buyer's Guide

GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

July 2025

Free Report: GoCD vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

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