Azure Pipelines VS CircleCI
As of 4 November 2026, CircleCI is named by 671 companies and Azure Pipelines by 549; Azure Pipelines skews to companies under 200 people (29% vs 54%), CircleCI to companies over 1,000 (21% vs 43%).
As of 4 November 2026 · refreshed daily · counts move as websites, DNS and career sites are re-read.
The website-and-DNS footprint is not comparable between a marketing suite and a CRM: Azure Pipelines's script and mail records show on hundreds of thousands of small sites, CircleCI rarely leaves a trace outside its own apps. Compare on the job-posting numbers; use the footprint for reach.
- Azure Pipelines: 2–200 employees
- 29%
- CircleCI: 2–200 employees
- 54%
- Azure Pipelines: 1,000+ employees
- 43%
- CircleCI: 1,000+ employees
- 21%
- Postings per company, 90 days
- 2.1 · 1.9
- Website or DNS footprint
- 0 · 0
Who chooses which
Share of each tool's companies in every segment. "Leans" marks a gap of more than two points.
| Segment | Azure Pipelines | share | CircleCI | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-employed | 9 | 2% | 26 | 4% | CircleCI |
| 2-10 employees | 23 | 4% | 63 | 9% | CircleCI |
| 11-50 employees | 47 | 9% | 137 | 20% | CircleCI |
| 51-200 employees | 89 | 16% | 159 | 24% | CircleCI |
| 201-500 employees | 82 | 15% | 84 | 13% | Azure Pipelines |
| 501-1000 employees | 65 | 12% | 61 | 9% | Azure Pipelines |
| 1001-5000 employees | 104 | 19% | 81 | 12% | Azure Pipelines |
| 5001-10000 employees | 36 | 7% | 16 | 2% | Azure Pipelines |
| 10,001+ employees | 94 | 17% | 44 | 7% | Azure Pipelines |
| Segment | Azure Pipelines | share | CircleCI | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology & software | 234 | 43% | 412 | 61% | CircleCI |
| Business & finance services | 141 | 26% | 114 | 17% | Azure Pipelines |
| Manufacturing & industry | 56 | 10% | 29 | 4% | Azure Pipelines |
| Commerce & trade | 26 | 5% | 20 | 3% | even |
| Property & construction | 18 | 3% | 7 | 1% | Azure Pipelines |
| Consumer services & leisure | 15 | 3% | 12 | 2% | even |
| Utilities & infrastructure | 12 | 2% | 8 | 1% | even |
| Health care | 11 | 2% | 7 | 1% | even |
| Automotive | 10 | 2% | 5 | 1% | even |
| Transport, logistics & rental | 10 | 2% | 9 | 1% | even |
| Media & content | 6 | 1% | 36 | 5% | CircleCI |
| Hospitality & travel | 5 | 1% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Public, community & associations | – | – | 7 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Segment | Azure Pipelines | share | CircleCI | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 295 | 54% | 414 | 62% | CircleCI |
| United Kingdom | 53 | 10% | 65 | 10% | even |
| Germany | 20 | 4% | 18 | 3% | even |
| Netherlands | 16 | 3% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Sweden | 16 | 3% | 6 | 1% | Azure Pipelines |
| Australia | 14 | 3% | 8 | 1% | even |
| Canada | 14 | 3% | 17 | 3% | even |
| India | 13 | 2% | 27 | 4% | even |
| France | 9 | 2% | 16 | 2% | even |
| Brazil | 8 | 1% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Belgium | 7 | 1% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Denmark | 6 | 1% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Japan | – | – | 17 | 3% | outside top 12 |
| United Arab Emirates | – | – | 6 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Spain | – | – | 4 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Ireland | – | – | 4 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Segment | Azure Pipelines | share | CircleCI | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineering | 945 | 64% | 1,393 | 75% | CircleCI |
| IT operations & business systems | 244 | 17% | 130 | 7% | Azure Pipelines |
| Data & AI | 84 | 6% | 77 | 4% | even |
| Engineering (non-software) | 21 | 1% | 18 | 1% | even |
| Quality, safety & environment | 10 | 1% | 15 | 1% | even |
| Product, program & project management | 8 | 1% | 9 | 0% | even |
| General management & consulting | 5 | 0% | 2 | 0% | even |
| Construction and civil | 4 | 0% | 3 | 0% | even |
| Marketing & communications | 3 | 0% | 4 | 0% | even |
| Administration & office | 2 | 0% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Customer service & success | 2 | 0% | 20 | 1% | even |
| Design & UX | 2 | 0% | 2 | 0% | even |
| Finance & accounting | 2 | 0% | 3 | 0% | even |
| Arts media and entertainment | 1 | 0% | 1 | 0% | even |
| Sales | 1 | 0% | 12 | 1% | even |
| Unclassified | 1 | 0% | 7 | 0% | even |
| Human resources | – | – | 2 | 0% | outside top 12 |
| Business development & strategy | – | – | 1 | 0% | outside top 12 |
| Education & training | – | – | 1 | 0% | outside top 12 |
| Legal, compliance & risk | – | – | 1 | 0% | outside top 12 |
| Logistics warehouse and transport | – | – | 1 | 0% | outside top 12 |
The companies behind each column
Companies using Azure Pipelines →
Companies using CircleCI →
ci cd ranked →
Quote the sentence with the date and the link. The numbers change daily; the link always shows the current ones.
CircleCI is named by 671 companies in job postings and Azure Pipelines by 549; 0 name both. (Breaknorm, 4 November 2026, https://breaknorm.co/compare/azure-pipelines-vs-circleci)
Read from the source, not self-reported
Every number on this page can be traced to a page we crawled or a posting we read. Full methodology →
- Job postingsRead hourly from career sites. A tool counts when the employer's own text names it as the team's system; both tools can count for one company.
- Website and DNSScripts and embeds on the company's pages, plus SPF, DKIM, MX and CNAME records of its domain that point at the vendor.
- SegmentsCountry, size and industry from the company profile built from its website.
- Not a reviewNo ratings, prices or feature claims. For those, read the vendors.
Azure Pipelines vs CircleCI: questions
Which is more used, Azure Pipelines or CircleCI?
By companies naming it in their own job postings, CircleCI (671) over Azure Pipelines (549). By website-and-DNS footprint, CircleCI (0 vs 0), because its scripts and mail records sit on many small company sites.
Who chooses Azure Pipelines?
29% of Azure Pipelines companies have 2 to 200 employees, against 54% for CircleCI. 43% of Azure Pipelines companies have over 1,000 employees, against 21% for CircleCI.
Do companies run both?
0 companies name both in their postings, usually Azure Pipelines in marketing and CircleCI in sales, or during a migration.
Where do these numbers come from?
From the employer's own text in job postings read hourly from career sites, and from scripts found on company websites in our crawl. No vendor data, no surveys.
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with the person who owns it
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