vioscaleAI
Comparison

CircleCI vs Dagger

On the evidence we track, CircleCI leads this comparison with a composite score of 76/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

CircleCI full profile →Dagger full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★CircleCI76
Dagger54
Score
vioscaleAI score
CircleCI76 / 100medium · 74%
Dagger54 / 100medium · 67%
Pricing
Free tier
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Model
CircleCIfreemium
Daggerfreemium
Price level
CircleCImid
Daggermid
Starting price
CircleCI$15
Dagger$50
Transparent
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Integrations
Count
CircleCI15
Dagger6
Security
Disclosure policy
CircleCI✓
Dagger–
Fedramp
CircleCI✓
Dagger–
Gdpr
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Iso27001
CircleCI✓
Dagger–
Pci
CircleCI✓
Dagger–
Scorecard
CircleCI–
Dagger5.1
Soc2
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
CircleCI–
Dagger17
Github stars
CircleCI–
Dagger16,339
Stackoverflow questions
CircleCI8,600
Dagger–
Activity
Commits last 30d
CircleCI–
Dagger100
Release
History
CircleCI–
Dagger20 items
License
Spdx
CircleCI–
DaggerApache-2.0
Language
Primary
CircleCI–
DaggerGo
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
CircleCI8 items
Dagger7 items
Hosting
Model
CircleCIcloud
Dagger–

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for ci/cd tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Deployment
Hosting
CircleCICloud + self-hosted
DaggerCloud + self-hosted
Self-hosted runners
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Core
Config-as-code pipelines
CircleCI✓
Dagger✗
Matrix / parallel builds
CircleCI✓
Dagger-
Build
Container-native builds
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Performance
Build caching
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Security
Secrets management
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Delivery
Deployment environments & approvals
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Ecosystem
Reusable actions / marketplace
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

CircleCI

Leader

A continuous integration and deployment service that automates software testing, building, and deployment across multiple compute environments, with intelligent workflow orchestration and parallel execution capabilities.

Independently observed

Dagger

A platform for automating software delivery that enables teams to define build, test, and deployment workflows as code in multiple programming languages. Pipelines execute consistently across local machines, CI systems, and cloud infrastructure with built-in caching, tracing, and container orchestration.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

CircleCI

Leader
from $15/moUsage-basedFree tier

Free plan with 30k monthly credits. Performance plan starts at $15/month with usage-based pricing for additional credits.

  • FreeFree
    • 30,000 free credits/month
    • Docker, Windows, Linux, Arm, macOS environments
    • Self-hosted runners
    • Docker layer caching
    • Deploys
    • +3 more
  • Performance$15/month + $0.60 per 1,000 additional credits
    • 30,000 free credits/month included
    • All compute environments including GPU
    • Docker layer caching
    • Deploys
    • Single sign-on (SSO)
    • +4 more
as of verify ↗

Dagger

from $50/moHybridFree tier14-day trial

Free for individuals. $50/month for teams (up to 10 users, 2-week free trial).

  • IndividualFree
    • Pipeline visualization
    • Local and cloud execution
  • Team$50/month for up to 10 users, 2-week free trial
    • Centralized control plane
    • Pipeline telemetry and visualization
    • Distributed cache orchestration
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
CircleCI✓
Dagger✗
macOS
CircleCI✗
Dagger✓
Windows
CircleCI✗
Dagger✓
Linux
CircleCI✗
Dagger✓
CLI
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓
Self-hosted
CircleCI✓
Dagger✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (2)
  • GitHub
  • Docker

CircleCI

Leader
18 total - 16 not shared
  • AWS
  • AWS ECS
  • AWS ECR
  • AWS EKS
  • AWS S3
  • AWS Lambda
  • Heroku
  • Netlify
  • OpenID Connect
  • Vault
  • GCP
  • Stripe
  • MCP
  • Firebase Distribution
  • Fastlane
  • Rollbar
Independently observed

Dagger

10 total - 8 not shared
  • GitLab CI/CD
  • Kubernetes
  • Terragrunt
  • Istio
  • Jaeger
  • Honeycomb
  • OpenTelemetry
  • GitLab
Independently observed
Still deciding?

CircleCI or Dagger: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.