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Top Software Deployment Tools: 25 Useful Tools to Streamline Software Delivery

By: Alexandra
  |  September 22, 2017
Top Software Deployment Tools: 25 Useful Tools to Streamline Software Delivery

Software deployment tools make the process of distributing software and updates as easy as possible. Often, these tasks are automatic or scheduled to enable software developers to focus on what they do best – writing code. And the best tools work with a variety of platforms and types of infrastructures, making it easy to streamline your workflow in your preferred environment.

Software deployment tools also allow developers to collaborate on their projects, track progress, and manage changes. Continuous integration and continuous deployment may be utilized to deploy software as changes are made, providing seamless updates for end users.

To make deployment less complicated, Stackify now offers Deployment Tracking inside of Retrace.  Deployment Tracking is extremely valuable so you can see when deployments happened and how they affected your application’s performance.  There will be visual indicators on your timelines when these events took place and you can easily use them to drill down into metrics that will give you an exact idea of what is happening in your application.

Choosing the best software deployment tool is tricky because what works best for one development team may not meet another team’s needs. We’ve rounded up 25 of the best software deployment tools that can help many dev teams streamline their workflow and optimize efficiency to deliver better software, faster.

Top Deployment Tools

1. Bamboo

@Atlassian

Bamboo

Atlassian’s Bamboo is a continuous integration server that automates release management for applications and general software, allowing teams to establish a streamlined pipeline of build delivery. It ties automated builds, testing, and releases into an integrated workflow. Mobile developers can deploy their apps back to the Apple Store or Google Play automatically.

Key Features:

  • Language agnostic integration with many platforms
  • Dedicated agents focus on specific build projects
  • Full reporting of upcoming code changes and issues

Deployment tracking tip: Learn how to notify Retrace via Atlassian Bamboo

2. TeamCity

@teamcity

TeamCity

JetBrains’ TeamCity is a continuous integration and software deployment server with Docker images for servers and agents. It offers a wide range of developer-oriented features to take team performance to the next level. Special additional functionality can be added from over 100 ready-to-use plugins.

Key Features:

  • Start within minutes from installation
  • Support for third-party tools without plugins or modifications
  • Comprehensive version control system
  • Customization and extension of the server

Cost: Free license with fees for additional capacity

Deployment tracking tip: Learn how to notify Retrace via TeamCity

3. AWS CodeDeploy

@awscloud

AWS Code Deploy

AWS CodeDeploy is a service from Amazon Web Services that automates code deployments to any instance. It works with any platform, language, and application. AWS CodeDeploy makes it easier to rapidly release new features, helps avoid downtime during application deployment, and handles the complexity of updating applications. AWS CodeDeploy can automate software deployments.

Key Features:

  • Automated and repeatable deployments
  • Centralized control
  • Applications still accessible during deployments

Cost: Free for code deployments to Amazon EC2 instances; $0.02 per on-premises instance update

Deployment Tracking Tip: Learn how to notify Retrace via AWS CodePipeline

4. Octopus Deploy

@OctopusDeploy

Octopus Deploy

Octopus Deploy is an automated system designed to simplify deployment of ASP.NET applications, Windows Services, and databases. It enables software developers to automate application deployments, whether on-premises or in the cloud.

Key Features:

  • Dashboard showing deployment statuses
  • Installation and set up completed quickly
  • Automatic deployments for virtual machines on site or in cloud services

Cost: Pricing based on tiers, ranging from free for small teams to $40,000 for unlimited users and nodes

Deployment Tracking Tip: Learn how to notify Retrace via Octopus Deploy

5. ElectricFlow

@ElectricCloud

Electric Flow

ElectricCloud’s ElectricFlow is a platform that helps develop software, deliver it, and maintain it with regular updates. ElectricFlow helps model, automate, and track cloud-native, container, and legacy application deployments with ease.

Key Features:

  • Build and deploy microservices
  • View release status and milestone dates
  • Automate and track cloud-native, container, and legacy application deployments

Cost: Contact for a quote

6. PDQ Deploy

@admarsenal

PDQ Deploy

PDQ Deploy offers the ability to remotely install software or patches to Windows systems. Pre-built ready-to-deploy packages are available for applications such as Adobe Flash, Java, Firefox, and more for all computers.

Key Features:

  • Customize installs
  • Installs to multiple computers simultaneously
  • Real-time status monitoring

Cost: Free, Pro, and Enterprise tiers; contact for Pro and Enterprise pricing

7. Ansible Tower

@ansible

Ansible Tower

Red Hat’s Ansible Tower is a large-scale software system that automates software provisioning, configuration management, and software deployment. It can help scale IT automation, manage complex deployments, and speed productivity.

Key Features:

  • Visual dashboard includes statuses, job activity, and job snapshots
  • Playbooks allow multiple workflows to be chained together
  • API and command line interface tools
  • Role-based access control
  • Job scheduling
  • Integrated notifications
  • Graphical inventory management

Cost: Three pricing tiers ranging from $5,000 to $14,000 per year

8. Chef

@chef

Chef

Chef manages infrastructure across servers. The server infrastructure is treated as software code, and Chef deploys updates, manages testing, and manages versions. Chef can be used to manage any number of servers by turning infrastructure into code that’s flexible, human-readable, versionable, and testable.

Key Features:

  • Manage data centers and cloud environments as one infrastructure
  • Migrate workloads to the cloud quickly
  • Cloud agnostic — promises integration with any provider

Cost: Three tiers ranging from free to $137 per node

9. Codeship

@codeship

Code Ship

Codeship is a continuous integration and delivery platform. It automatically tests and deploys any coding change when the code repository is updated.

Key Features:

  • Docker support
  • Parallel deployments and testing
  • Debugging via SSH access and command line interface

Cost: Free basic plan and several pro tiers with pricing up to $1,200 per month

10. AppVeyor

@appveyor

Appveyor

AppVeyor is a continuous integration and delivery cloud service for Windows and .NET tools with automatic testing.

Key Features:

  • No setup or maintenance required
  • Developer-friendly build configs using UI or YAML
  • Fast builds on dedicated hardware with SSD drives
  • Multi-branch builds
  • Staff and community support
  • Pay-as-you-go pricing

Cost: Three tiers priced at $29/$59/$99 per month

Cost: Variable pricing from $10 per month to $40,000 per month

11. CircleCI

@circleci

CircleCI

CircleCI is a continuous integration and delivery platform that supports Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, Node, Python, PHP, Java, and Clojure. It can automate the software development process using continuous integration and continuous delivery.

Key Features:

  • Fully customizable build environments
  • Customizable custom dashboard
  • Integration with AWS, Heroku, Google Cloud, and others
  • Debugging with SSH or local builds

Cost: Depends on platform

12. Travis CI

@travisci

Travis CI

Travis CI is an open-source continuous integration service that automates testing and deploys code in GitHub projects.

Key Features:

  • Linux, Mac, and iOS support
  • Watch tests as they run
  • Notifications via email, Hipchat, or Slack
  • Wide selection of programming languages supported
  • Linux, Mac and iOS support
  • API and command line interface available

Cost: Four pricing tiers priced at $69/$129/$249/$489 per month

13. Distelli

@distelli

Distelli

Distelli is a set of software deployment tools that specialize in Kubernetes Clusters but can be used with any cloud service or physical server.

Key Features:

  • Automate builds for Docker images
  • Automate software deployment
  • Push software to multiple clouds

Cost: Based on the tool and tier of service

14. Jenkins

@jenkinsci

Jenkins CI

Jenkins offers continuous delivery and continuous delivery tools in an open-source automation server. Plugin structure supports building, deploying, and automating software projects. Jenkins can easily distribute work across multiple machines, helping drive builds, tests, and deployments across multiple platforms faster.

Key Features:

  • Hundreds of plugins available
  • Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery
  • Easy installation and configuration
  • Installation packages available for Windows, Mac OS X, and other Unix-like operating systems
  • Web interface offers easy configuration and error checks

Cost: Contact for cost information

15. Codenvy

@CodenvyHQ

Codenvy

Codenvy is a developer workspace that runs behind the firewall and can deploy software to a data center or any cloud. Teams can develop code with portable Docker runtimes.

Key Features:

  • Supports Docker environments
  • Share workspaces with users on any OS
  • Develop with desktop editor or browser IDE
  • Define resource limits for teams

Cost: Based on the number of developers and RAM needed

16. Deploybot

@DeploybotHQ

Deploybot HQ

DeployBot is an automated software deployment app that deploys code from GIT repositories to anywhere. Deployments can be triggered automatically or manually, and code can be executed or compiled on servers during the deployment, using pre-defined or completely custom Docker containers.

Key Features:

  • API hosted on DeployBot subdomain dedicated to each customer
  • Pre-defined or custom Docker containers available
  • Ability to rollback problematic releases
  • Trigger a deployment when code is ready

Cost: Contact for cost information

17. UrbanCode Deploy

@IBMcloud

IBM Urban Code Deploy

IBM’s UrbanCode Deploy is an application release automation tool that automates software deployment to local and cloud-based environments. The software allows seamless deployments to distributed data centers, cloud, and virtualized environments as often as needed — on demand or on schedule.

Key Features:

  • Automated deployments
  • Processes can be built by drag-and-drop interface
  • Enterprise level security and scalability

Cost: Contact for cost and financing information

18. Buildbot

Buildbot

Buildbot is a job scheduling platform that can be used to automate software builds, tests, and releases. It can automate all stages of software development. Each Buildbot installation has one or more masters and a collection of workers. The masters monitor source-code repositories for changes, coordinate the activities of the workers, and report results to users and developers. Workers run on a variety of operating systems.

Key Features:

  • Parallel execution across multiple platforms
  • Open source platform
  • Compatible with all major operating systems

Cost: Contact for cost information

19. GoCD

@goforcd

GoCD

ThoughtWorks’ GoCD is an open source continuous delivery tool that handles continuous integration, testing, and software deployment. It replaces the commercial product Cruise.

Key Features:

  • Embedded database is scalable with a PostgreSQL addon
  • Enterprise tool plugins
  • Access to the GoCD development team
  • Notifications for all bug fixes and security patches
  • Full support with all pricing tiers

Cost: Depending on pipelines needed, annual plans priced at $5,000/$15,000/$25,000 and up

20. Microsoft Team Foundation Server

@Microsoft

Microsoft Team Foundation Server

Microsoft Team Foundation Server is a set of collaborative software development tools to share code and ship software. It integrates with an existing IDE or editor, enabling cross-functional teams to work effectively on software projects of all sizes.

Key Features:

  • Version control
  • Integrates with Agile processes
  • Works with any programming language or IDE
  • Automate and track deployments

Cost: Contact Microsoft for pricing

21. Automic

@automic

Automic

Automic from CA Technologies applies software development and continuous integration tools to back-end systems. This allows software development to happen in an Agile and stable environment.

Key Features:

  • Automate continuous delivery and release management
  • Full stack delivery
  • Plugin Marketplace to help customize tools
  • Provision Siebel servers and patches

Cost: Contact for cost information

22. RapidDeploy

@MidVision

MidVision

MidVision’s RapidDeploy is a software deployment and release automation tool built for DevOps teams and enterprise continuous delivery. It consistently delivers high-volume deployments that allow organizations to speed release cycles without compromising quality.

Key Features:

  • Automate processes without writing code
  • Graphical interface that manages tasks
  • Release pipelines allow users to manage multiple projects and targets

Cost: Contact for cost information (for teams using more than 10 nodes)

23. JuJu

@ubuntucloud

JuJu

Canonical’s JuJu automates cloud infrastructure and deploys application architectures. The tool uses Charms, collections of scripts, to simplify configuration, management, maintenance, deployment, and scalability.

Key Features:

  • Deploy to all major cloud providers or private hardware
  • Scales on demand
  • Open source operations code
  • Works with Kubernetes or Instant Hadoop with Spark

Cost: Contact for cost information

24. Rancher

@Rancher_Labs

Rancher Labs

Rancher is an open source software that deploys and manage Docker containers and Kubernetes in production on any infrastructure. With Rancher, you can manage all aspects of running containers in development and production environments.

Key Features:

  • Deploy and run containers in any infrastructure
  • Container deployment and operations automation
  • Modular infrastructure services
  • Rich set of tools
  • Role based access control

Cost: Contact for cost information

25. Drone.io

@droneio

Drone.io

Drone.io is a continuous integration and deployment service in the cloud designed to automatically build, test, and deploy your code without human assistance.

Key Features:

  • Integrates seamlessly with Github, Bitbucket, Heroku, and more
  • Open source
  • Add functionality with plugins
  • Notifications via email, Hipchat, and Slack

Cost: $100 per month for up to 50 repositories and agents; $500 per month for unlimited repositories and agents

Choosing the right software deployment tools can make a substantial impact on your team’s productivity. Check out our list of continuous integration tools for more useful tools that can improve your development processes, and find out what 20 development pros have to say about the key differences between continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment. If you’re looking to adopt a DevOps approach, we’ve rounded up some reliable, proven tools to meet all your DevOps needs here. And finally, while deployment tools can speed up your development cycle, don’t forget to test. Check out our post for some insights on integrating APM into your testing strategy.

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