DevOps CI/CD vs GitOps CI/CD – What’s the Difference, and When Should You Use Each?

In the evolving world of software development and infrastructure automation, the terms DevOps, CI/CD, and GitOps are everywhere. But what do they really mean? And more importantly, how do you decide between DevOps CI/CD and GitOps CI/CD for your organization?

In this blog, we’ll explore the key differences between these two paradigms and help you understand when to use each.

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What is DevOps CI/CD?

DevOps CI/CD refers to the combination of Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery or Deployment (CD) practices within a DevOps framework. It’s all about streamlining the process of building, testing, and deploying applications through automation.

Key Characteristics:

• CI: Developers commit code regularly to a shared repository. Automated tests validate the changes.

• CD: Approved builds are automatically or manually pushed to staging or production environments.

• Imperative Deployments: The pipeline executes scripts to deploy code.

• Focus on Automation and Speed: Reducing manual steps and ensuring consistency.

Common Tools:

• Jenkins

• GitLab CI/CD

• CircleCI

• Azure DevOps

• Spinnaker

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What is GitOps CI/CD?

GitOps takes a different approach. It uses Git as the single source of truth for your application and infrastructure configurations. Instead of pipelines pushing changes, GitOps tools pull and apply changes from Git repositories in a declarative way.

Key Characteristics:

• Declarative State: Your desired system state is defined in code (YAML, Helm, Kustomize).

• Git as the Control Plane: All changes go through Git, with full commit history and auditability.

• Reconciliation Loop: Tools like Argo CD or Flux continuously compare the live cluster state to the Git repo and reconcile any differences.

• Pull-based Deployment: Rather than pushing changes via scripts, agents in the cluster pull changes from Git.

Common Tools:

• Argo CD

• Flux

• Helm

• Kustomize

• GitHub Actions (for CI)

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DevOps CI/CD vs GitOps CI/CD: Key Differences

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When Should You Use DevOps CI/CD?

DevOps CI/CD remains a solid choice in many scenarios:

• You manage monolithic or non-containerized applications.

• Your stack involves legacy systems or hybrid environments (Windows, VMs, etc.).

• You need custom pipeline logic or fine-grained control over every step.

• Your team isn’t fully embracing declarative Infrastructure as Code (IaC) yet.

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When Should You Use GitOps CI/CD?

GitOps shines in Kubernetes-native, modern cloud-native applications:

• You run apps in Kubernetes.

• You use Infrastructure as Code to define environments.

• You need self-healing and auto-remediation if something drifts from the desired state.

• You value auditability and compliance via Git history.

• You want to reduce human access to clusters and improve security posture.

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Can You Use Both Together?

Absolutely. In fact, combining DevOps CI with GitOps CD is becoming a best practice.

Hybrid Example Workflow:

1. CI Phase: Code is built and tested using Jenkins or GitHub Actions.

2. Artifact Created: A Docker image is pushed to a container registry.

3. GitOps Trigger: A deployment manifest or Helm chart is updated in a Git repo.

4. GitOps Tool (e.g., Argo CD): Automatically syncs the change to the Kubernetes cluster.

This separation of responsibilities ensures high automation, strong governance, and secure deployments.

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Final Thoughts

While DevOps CI/CD and GitOps CI/CD share the same ultimate goal—rapid, reliable delivery of software—they approach it from different angles. DevOps emphasizes flexibility and scripting; GitOps emphasizes declarative state and control via Git.

• Use DevOps CI/CD when you need more control, broader tooling support, and flexibility across environments.

• Use GitOps CI/CD when operating in Kubernetes, when you want declarative management, auditability, and security.

And often, the right answer is both—CI for building and testing, GitOps for deployment and environment management.

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What's Next?

If you're just getting started with GitOps:

• Try setting up Argo CD or Flux in a test Kubernetes cluster.

• Define your deployment manifests in Git.

• Observe how changes sync automatically and safely.

The future of infrastructure is declarative, automated, and version-controlled—and GitOps is a big part of that journey.