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Comparison · DevOps
Jenkins vs Rivet
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Jenkins and Rivet — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Jenkins vs Rivet: at a glance
| Feature | Jenkins | Rivet |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | DevOps, Infra & APIs | DevOps |
| Velocity score | 5.0 | 6.3 |
| Sparks · 30d | 0 | 1 |
| Top themes | release-train, plugin-unbundling, ui-refresh, security-releases | actors, rust, storage engine, s3 |
| Last editorial update | 3mo ago | 16h ago |
| Website | Visit → | — |
What is Jenkins?
Jenkins is shrinking its own war file and rebuilding its UI, one weekly release at a time
The weekly train is dominated by two long efforts: an incremental redesign of the experimental Manage Jenkins UI, and a deliberate campaign to unbundle plugins from jenkins.war. 2.577 drops bouncycastle, the Command Agent Launcher, JAXB, the SSH server and more, following 2.574's removal of JUnit, Mailer and the matrix plugins. Interleaved security releases ship with no detail beyond a one-line note.
What is Rivet?
Rivet's Rust SDK for Actors is generally available.
Rivet has spent two months building infrastructure for long-lived actors and AI agents: BYOC, OpenTelemetry tracing, actor-scoped JWTs and agentOS Hosted VMs. The 3.0 Preview made Rivet a single stateless binary on S3. The Rust SDK for Rivet Actors is now generally available, with SQLite, WebSockets, cron and OpenTelemetry built in.
Jenkins vs Rivet: editorial side-by-side
Jenkins
5.0DEVOPSINFRA · APIS
Jenkins is shrinking its own war file and rebuilding its UI, one weekly release at a time
◆ Current state
The weekly train is dominated by two long efforts: an incremental redesign of the experimental Manage Jenkins UI, and a deliberate campaign to unbundle plugins from jenkins.war. 2.577 drops bouncycastle, the Command Agent Launcher, JAXB, the SSH server and more, following 2.574's removal of JUnit, Mailer and the matrix plugins. Interleaved security releases ship with no detail beyond a one-line note.
◆ Where it's heading
Two releases cutting 20 MB each signal that unbundling is sustained policy, not a one-off — the core is being reduced toward a minimal server with plugins as an explicit choice. The UI work is methodical and unglamorous: scrollable side panels, sticky build bars, standardised dialogs and command palettes. Neither effort is close to finished.
◆ Prediction
More bundled plugins will be pulled in coming releases, and the experimental Manage Jenkins UI should keep absorbing pages until it can drop the experimental label.
Rivet
6.3DEVOPS
Rivet's Rust SDK for Actors is generally available.
◆ Current state
Rivet has spent two months building infrastructure for long-lived actors and AI agents: BYOC, OpenTelemetry tracing, actor-scoped JWTs and agentOS Hosted VMs. The 3.0 Preview made Rivet a single stateless binary on S3. The Rust SDK for Rivet Actors is now generally available, with SQLite, WebSockets, cron and OpenTelemetry built in.
◆ Where it's heading
Rivet is widening who can build on its actor model while 3.0 matures: a Rust SDK GA lets performance-sensitive teams use it without a TypeScript layer. The platform direction remains S3-only infrastructure for stateful workloads.
◆ Prediction
Expect 3.0 to move toward a stable release and more SDK languages. The entries don't show a 3.0 GA date.
Alternatives to Jenkins and Rivet
Other DevOps products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Jenkins or Rivet.
Gravity Wiz
Gravity Wiz previews Flowcrafter, a visual workflow canvas for Gravity Forms.
GitLab
GitLab sells Orbit as the evidence layer for agent pilots and AI-code rules.
NATS
NATS second release candidates add a config reload check and faster redelivery queues.
Zed
Zed 1.27 writes commit messages in your repo's style and trims agent memory use.
Z-Wave JS UI
Z-Wave JS UI 11.26 picks up zwave-js 15.32 and finishes the move to Node 24.
See all Jenkins alternatives → · See all Rivet alternatives →
Recent activity from Jenkins and Rivet
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4d agoRivetRust SDK for Rivet Actors Is Now Generally Available
- 15d agoRivetIntroducing Rivet 3.0 Preview ⚡
- 29d agoRivetIntroducing agentOS 0.4 & Hosted VMs
- 1mo agoRivetIntroducing Pi Durable for Rivet
- 1mo agoRivetReplacing Our Message Broker with... S3? ⚡
- 1mo agoRivetIntroducing Pi 1.0 for Rivet
- 3mo agoJenkinsJenkins 2.577 unbundles another 20 MB of plugins from the war
- 3mo agoJenkinsJenkins 2.576 security release
- 3mo agoJenkinsJenkins 2.575 security release
- 3mo agoJenkinsJenkins 2.574 removes JUnit, Mailer and the matrix plugins from the war
- 4mo agoJenkinsJenkins 2.573 refreshes job status icons
- 4mo agoJenkinsJenkins 2.572 adds password complexity rules and tightens deserialization
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Jenkins and Rivet?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Rivet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Jenkins better than Rivet?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Rivet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other DevOps products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Jenkins?
Top Jenkins alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Jenkins alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/jenkins for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Rivet?
Top Rivet alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Rivet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rivet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.