How much does Jenkins cost?

Jenkins is free to use. We verified this against the vendor's own page; see "What we checked" below for the date.

Does Jenkins have a free plan?

Yes. Jenkins is free to use at its base level.

What are the main drawbacks of Jenkins?

The trade-offs we noted: You maintain the server, the agents and the plugins; Interface and defaults feel dated; Plugin quality varies and updates can break builds.

When should you not use Jenkins?

Skip Jenkins if: You want a hosted service: Jenkins is self-hosted only, there is no vendor cloud; Nobody on the team will own upgrades and plugin compatibility — that maintenance is the real cost; You need vendor support and SLAs: the project is community-run under the Continuous Delivery Foundation.

Developer Tools

Jenkins

Open-source automation server for build pipelines.

What it is

Jenkins is the long-standing open-source automation server. It runs anywhere, does almost anything through plugins, and costs nothing in licence fees; what it costs is maintenance. Choose it when you need to run builds on your own hardware, behind your own network rules, with no per-minute billing. Expect to own upgrades, plugin compatibility and the security of the controller yourself; that maintenance is the real price.

Jenkins pricing

Jenkins does not publish a plan ladder we could verify. Free.

Prices read from the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-08. Vendors change plans without notice — check the source before you budget.

People also compare Jenkins with…

Key features

Plugin ecosystem
Extends builds to almost any tool through a large plugin catalogue.
Self-hosted controller
Runs entirely on your own infrastructure with no per-minute billing.
Pipeline as code
Defines builds in a Jenkinsfile stored alongside the source.

Strengths and trade-offs

What works well

Free and open source with no usage limits
Enormous plugin ecosystem
Runs entirely on your own infrastructure

Where it falls short

You maintain the server, the agents and the plugins
Interface and defaults feel dated
Plugin quality varies and updates can break builds

Who it is for

Teams with infrastructure skills who need full control or cannot send code to a hosted service.

Pick it or skip it

Pick Jenkins if

Teams that want a free, MIT-licensed CI server they fully control, on their own hardware or Kubernetes
Pipelines that depend on unusual tooling — Jenkins runs as a self-contained Java program with hundreds of plugins
Organisations that want a stable baseline: LTS lines are cut every 12 weeks with fixes every 4 weeks

Skip it if

You want a hosted service: Jenkins is self-hosted only, there is no vendor cloud
Nobody on the team will own upgrades and plugin compatibility — that maintenance is the real cost
You need vendor support and SLAs: the project is community-run under the Continuous Delivery Foundation

Our verdict

Still the right answer when control matters more than convenience. For most small teams a hosted CI is less work.

Closest alternatives we track

Same category, ordered by verified starting price.

CircleCI
Free tier
Continuous integration and delivery pipelines.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Jenkins cost?: Jenkins is free to use. We verified this against the vendor's own page; see "What we checked" below for the date.
Does Jenkins have a free plan?: Yes. Jenkins is free to use at its base level.
Who is Jenkins best for?: Teams with infrastructure skills who need full control or cannot send code to a hosted service.
What are the main drawbacks of Jenkins?: The trade-offs we noted: You maintain the server, the agents and the plugins; Interface and defaults feel dated; Plugin quality varies and updates can break builds.
When should you not use Jenkins?: Skip Jenkins if: You want a hosted service: Jenkins is self-hosted only, there is no vendor cloud; Nobody on the team will own upgrades and plugin compatibility — that maintenance is the real cost; You need vendor support and SLAs: the project is community-run under the Continuous Delivery Foundation.

What we checked

Public APIOffers a documented API you can build against.Yes
Mobile appHas a native app for iOS or Android, not just a mobile website.No
Open source / self-hostableSource is open and the tool can be run on your own infrastructure.Yes
SSO (SAML)Supports SAML single sign-on on at least one plan.No

“Not checked” means exactly that — we have not verified it, and we do not guess.

Evidence and freshness

Status: Open source, free — vendor page verifiedReviewed: 2026-09-08

Jenkins — License ↗
Checked 2026-09-08 · Supports: MIT License
Jenkins — Download ↗
Checked 2026-09-08 · Supports: LTS baselines every 12 weeks, stable releases every 4 weeks, weekly releases, WAR, native packages, installers, Docker images and Helm chart; Linux, Windows, macOS via third party
Jenkins — Home ↗
Checked 2026-09-08 · Supports: self-contained Java program, hundreds of plugins, Continuous Delivery Foundation

Limit: Vendor pricing page was reviewed by an editor on this date; this record is not a ToolCompare benchmark. Prices and limits change. Open-source project with no vendor price list; infrastructure and maintenance costs are yours.

Compare Jenkins with alternatives

Jenkins vs CircleCI

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