CircleCI can be improved by making it less costly, as it is very expensive. The config complexity, like the YAML config, can become messy in complex projects. Making it simpler, much like having a Docker Compose YAML or Kubernetes YAML, is necessary from that perspective. Rather than keeping it a SaaS project, they can think of it through a Jenkins approach, where we can also self-host it into our environment, but it is acceptable. It is very expensive, and many organizations cannot afford it. The config complexity, like the YAML configs, can become messy in complex projects. A better DevOps person can only handle it, not a normal person. For that reason, I chose a rating of seven. It is quite expensive, to be honest. As mentioned, many organizations cannot afford it because of the parallel execution prices as well as the config complexity.
Managing Technical Consultant - Solution Architect at NTT DATA
Real User
Top 10
Jan 24, 2026
I think CircleCI can improve in terms of pricing and needs to bring more unique selling points to stay competitive as there are many other cloud solutions such as GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps that offer similar execution and deployment services.I believe CircleCI should leverage the growing trend of AI by offering an out-of-the-box AI-driven dynamic YAML file creation feature using natural language processing. Instead of having users define pipelines manually, users could simply use natural language to define their needs and let the AI generate the YAML configuration automatically. Implementing a multi-agent architecture could also enhance usability. I rated CircleCI six out of ten because I think they need more transparency in pricing, as there are instances of unclear network data transfer and storage costs related to caching and workspaces. Additionally, there are sporadic platform security incidents that need addressing, and pipelines require good protection. Secret rotation should also be prioritized. There are occasionally long-running workflows that can be difficult to debug, and improvements could be made in job startup times and cache management.
SRE coordinator at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 10
Dec 2, 2025
CircleCI's Orbs are not as easy to use as they could be. If CircleCI implemented a function approach similar to GitHub Actions, it would be significantly better. CircleCI could be improved if it could function without Orbs. Instead of Orbs, using a function approach like GitHub Actions would be beneficial.
We've had occasional connectivity issues with cloud resources and build failure due to its own internal system setup and environment. That costs us credits. Support engineers do not thoroughly read and understand issues when emailing them. They reply to me with a totally different context about the problem. Just yesterday, my web applications failed to 'yarn build' after I downgraded the resource class from extr-large to large. I contacted support and got no reply. Billing is a mess. There is duplicate information in the bill downloaded from their website and when I asked for a consolidated bill, they just answered that they didn't have it. There is no transparency on how many billed minutes and credits I spent each day both on their website and the monthly bill which makes it difficult to understand when the monthly bill contains many refill item charges. It is difficult or impossible to track usage and burndown of my subscription and to gain total outstanding refill amounts on a daily basis. Their website doesn't provide sufficient information on credits allocated/calculated for my extra-large resource class.
CircleCI is a continuous integration and delivery platform that automates software development, streamlining the process for engineers and developers. It's valued for its ability to enhance development speed while maintaining high software quality. Known for its robust CI/CD capabilities, CircleCI supports a wide range of programming languages and integrations, allowing teams to build and deploy code with efficiency and reliability. Its flexibility and automation features help teams quickly...
CircleCI can be improved by making it less costly, as it is very expensive. The config complexity, like the YAML config, can become messy in complex projects. Making it simpler, much like having a Docker Compose YAML or Kubernetes YAML, is necessary from that perspective. Rather than keeping it a SaaS project, they can think of it through a Jenkins approach, where we can also self-host it into our environment, but it is acceptable. It is very expensive, and many organizations cannot afford it. The config complexity, like the YAML configs, can become messy in complex projects. A better DevOps person can only handle it, not a normal person. For that reason, I chose a rating of seven. It is quite expensive, to be honest. As mentioned, many organizations cannot afford it because of the parallel execution prices as well as the config complexity.
I think CircleCI can improve in terms of pricing and needs to bring more unique selling points to stay competitive as there are many other cloud solutions such as GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps that offer similar execution and deployment services.I believe CircleCI should leverage the growing trend of AI by offering an out-of-the-box AI-driven dynamic YAML file creation feature using natural language processing. Instead of having users define pipelines manually, users could simply use natural language to define their needs and let the AI generate the YAML configuration automatically. Implementing a multi-agent architecture could also enhance usability. I rated CircleCI six out of ten because I think they need more transparency in pricing, as there are instances of unclear network data transfer and storage costs related to caching and workspaces. Additionally, there are sporadic platform security incidents that need addressing, and pipelines require good protection. Secret rotation should also be prioritized. There are occasionally long-running workflows that can be difficult to debug, and improvements could be made in job startup times and cache management.
CircleCI's Orbs are not as easy to use as they could be. If CircleCI implemented a function approach similar to GitHub Actions, it would be significantly better. CircleCI could be improved if it could function without Orbs. Instead of Orbs, using a function approach like GitHub Actions would be beneficial.
We've had occasional connectivity issues with cloud resources and build failure due to its own internal system setup and environment. That costs us credits. Support engineers do not thoroughly read and understand issues when emailing them. They reply to me with a totally different context about the problem. Just yesterday, my web applications failed to 'yarn build' after I downgraded the resource class from extr-large to large. I contacted support and got no reply. Billing is a mess. There is duplicate information in the bill downloaded from their website and when I asked for a consolidated bill, they just answered that they didn't have it. There is no transparency on how many billed minutes and credits I spent each day both on their website and the monthly bill which makes it difficult to understand when the monthly bill contains many refill item charges. It is difficult or impossible to track usage and burndown of my subscription and to gain total outstanding refill amounts on a daily basis. Their website doesn't provide sufficient information on credits allocated/calculated for my extra-large resource class.
The solution’s pricing could be better. In future releases, it may provide integration with Grafana or any tool for visualization.
There needs to be some improvement in the user interface of CircleCI.