AWS CodePipeline vs Digital.ai Release (formerly XebiaLabs XL Release)

Likelihood to Recommend

I think AWS CodePipeline is a great tool for anyone wanted automated deployments in a multi-server/container AWS environment. AWS also offers services like Elastic Beanstalk that provide a more managed hosting & deployment experience. CodePipeline is a good middle ground with solid, built-in automation with enough customizability to not lock people into one deployment or architecture philosophy.

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Alec Dibble

Founder

Alec Dibble ConsultingInformation Technology and Services, 1-10 employees

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XL release fits very well when you need cross-team coordination in a release process where you want to coordinate an alpha or beta program with marketing as part of a major release process.

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Kenneth Dick

System Architect

ValpakInformation Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees

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Pros

It is reliable and works without errors
It integrates well with our repository and all other AWS functions as well as our end database

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Verified User

Employee in Information Technology

Automotive Company, 10,001+ employees

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Cross-team release workflow control using email, texts, scripts allow our release management to be truly a 360 process.
XL Release allowing our Jenkins toolchain to control the beginning of release trains which is very powerful.
XL release allows us to expose the business process flow for anyone to read direct at the source which runs the process instead of a separate vision.

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Kenneth Dick

System Architect

ValpakInformation Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees

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Cons

Ease of use - things like CircleCI or other tools are a bit easier to learn.
Ability to build from more sources.

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Richard Rout

Software Developer

Blink LendingComputer Software, 11-50 employees

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XL release is really only missing a consolidated calendar view where you can see the planned activity for the next month, it only knows about what is in progress.

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Kenneth Dick

System Architect

ValpakInformation Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees

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Usability

AWS CodePipeline 8.0

Based on 2 answers

AWS CodePipeline is very useable because of its Infrastructure as Code (IaC) capabilities. Since changes to the pipelines can be version controlled, minor changes in the pipelines can be pin-pointed to causing specific issues and fix or rolled back easily as needed. More CI/CD solutions need to completely support IaC. However, Github support is weak within the product.

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Stephen Groat

Security Engineer

TealiumMarketing and Advertising, 201-500 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Performance

AWS CodePipeline 7.6

Based on 6 answers

AWS CodePipeline only speeds the delivery of code, it does not slow down any other used software and integrates perfectly with other tools. Although it is a web-based tool, it has great performance and compatibility. Besides that, it is greatly enhanced by the other tools of AWS. It is not only limited to AWS tools but can be used with other tools such as GitHub, Jenkins, etc.

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Winston Mendes

Software Developer

Globalsoft SolutionsComputer Software, 51-200 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

AWS CodePipeline 8.8

Based on 6 answers

We didn't need a lot of support with AWS CodePipeline as it was pretty straightforward to configure and use, but where we ran into problems, the AWS community was able to help. AWS support agents were also helpful in resolving some of the minor issues we encountered, which we could not find a solution elsewhere.

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Ramindu Deshapriya

Lead Consultant - Technology

VirtusaComputer Software, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

CodeCommit and CodeDeploy can be used with CodePipeline so it’s not really fair to stack them against each other as they can be quite the compliment. The same goes for Beanstalk, which is often used as a deployment target in relation to CodePipeline.

CodePipeline fulfills the CI/CD duty, where the other services do not focus on that specific function. They are supplements, not replacements. CodePipeline will detect the updated code and handle deploying it to the actual instance via Beanstalk.

Jenkins is open source and not a native AWS service, that is its primary differentiator. Jenkins can also be used as a supplement to CodePipeline.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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XL release is simpler to configure and deploy to the organization than other change management platforms I have used. That simplicity has minor drawbacks requiring you to fit into a limited set of control methods but that exercise helped us simplify a needlessly onerous process.

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Kenneth Dick

System Architect

ValpakInformation Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees

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Return on Investment

CodePipeline has reduced ongoing devops costs for my clients, especially around deployment & testing.
CodePipeline has sped up development workflow by making the deployment process automated off git pushes. Deployment takes very little coordination as the system will just trigger based on what is the latest commit in a branch.
CodePipeline offered a lot of out-of-the-box functionality that was much simpler to setup than a dedicated CI server. It allowed the deployment process to built and put into production with much less and effort and cost compared to rolling the functionality manually.

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Alec Dibble

Founder

Alec Dibble ConsultingInformation Technology and Services, 1-10 employees

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XL release has improved our consistency of release process, removing multiple days worth of manual status checking and coordination.
XL release has allowed us to increase the number of beta releases we can support due to simplifying our release actions.

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Kenneth Dick

System Architect

ValpakInformation Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

AWS CodePipeline Editions & Modules

Edition

Free Tier	Free
AWS CodePipeline	$1²

per active pipeline/per month

Additional Pricing Details

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General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Digital.ai Release (formerly XebiaLabs XL Release) Editions & Modules

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Additional Pricing Details

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