Codefresh Platform by Octopus Deploy

I use Codefresh  for Kubernetes  applications and to deploy Kubernetes  applications. We have used Codefresh  for deploying containerized applications to Kubernetes environments, and our organization has adopted GitOps for managing multiple environments such as development, staging, and production, which makes Codefresh ideal for this purpose.

Managing the Kubernetes platform and deploying applications on Kubernetes is very difficult, but Codefresh has made it easy to deploy applications in different environments like production, staging, and development.

Codefresh offers pipeline automation, Kubernetes native architecture, and GitOps workflow integration, which is very useful; without GitOps, we cannot coordinate with the code. It also provides strong integration with container insights, and to see the deployment process, it shows a dashboard that gives clear insights about what is happening. It also provides smart deployment strategies like blue-green and canary deployments, which are very useful for the production release of applications.

Previously, when a developer pushed code, we had to take the code and change the configuration manually, but now through Codefresh's automation, it is easy to deploy through three stages; once it is successful in development, it goes to the staging environment, and after the pull request is approved in staging, it goes to production deployment. For the configuration file, we only have to write it one time, and everything from container to test is done by Codefresh, which has reduced the work for Kubernetes deployment.

Codefresh eliminates the manual process and provides a centralized platform for continuous integration, continuous delivery, and GitOps-based release management. It is also easy to integrate with Argo CD, so it is used on top of Argo CD, making it useful for deployments like Kubernetes.

Codefresh has a learning curve for teams, as the initial pipeline configuration may require some familiarity with YAML and container-based CI/CD processes; a junior engineer cannot configure these YAML files and processes, so it needs an experienced or knowledgeable person with a background in Kubernetes.

The documentation is good, but the person using Codefresh needs to go through a learning curve; they should have knowledge of the things Codefresh offers, so it should be easy to use even for a non-Kubernetes person, and the writing of configuration files should also be easier for them.

I gave it a nine because it has automated Kubernetes deployments, which are not easy to achieve through CI/CD, and it is centralized, integrating GitOps, Argo CD, and Docker-based containerized application deployment, making it a useful tool. The reason it is not a ten is because our developers who do not have Kubernetes and Docker  knowledge cannot use Codefresh easily, and the configuration file we have to write is very complex, requiring prior knowledge of Kubernetes and Docker-based deployments.

I have been using Codefresh for the past ten months.

Codefresh is stable.

This is our first established solution, and it is the best platform.

Another choice before choosing Codefresh was CircleCI , but CircleCI  was good for Docker-based deployments; however, we wanted something that supports Kubernetes, so we found Codefresh to be better for Kubernetes deployment.

I have seen a return on investment from using Codefresh.

Before Codefresh, we had to plan the strategy, write the configuration file, and run everything; it used to take two to three days to plan and implement, but now it is a one-time job, so it can be done in ten to fifteen minutes, which has reduced a lot of time and sped up the automation and CI/CD, requiring fewer employees.

Previously, the process had to be done by three to four DevOps engineers, which included writing the YAML file, managing the containers running in Kubernetes, managing the configuration file, and checking for successful deployments in development and staging before doing blue-green and canary deployments, but now everything has been automated.

Codefresh has made the most positive impact by reducing errors; sometimes humans make errors, especially during high-pressure times or with a high workload. It can be hard to configure the files, and we can misconfigure them, leading to wrong deployments, but with the one-time job of configuring the Kubernetes configuration file, it is very easy for repetitive tasks, and it has also reduced repetitive tasks by being triggered automatically once the code is pushed.

Initially, we tried the free trial application, and now we are using a team plan which is managed by the upper teams. I would rate this product a nine out of ten.

Public Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

What do you like best about the product?

Codefresh has helped our organisation centralize the entire deployment pipeline, from build to test to deploy to maintenance. Before Codefresh, we needed different UI representations and backend tools for Admins and Developers for the entire release pipeline, this problem has been eliminated by Codefreah. And even more importantly, it is cheaper than the preious tool we used. In today's agile way of working, we needed something which could be easy to integrate and implement considering the high frequency of use, which is fulfilled by Codefreah

What do you dislike about the product?

There definitely are some drawbacks which I think can be worked upon by their dev and business team, but no dealbreakers in my opinion. For instance, the public support documentation is somethiing that can be improved. We also noticed some cost upticks when we started migrating some of our more complex projects to Codefresh. Also, when it comes to mission critical projects, the fact that they only have. email support is not reassuring.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

1. Codefresh has helped us centralize our Release pipeline
2. We have been able to unify our build, test, deploy and maintenance tools into codefresh, reducing complexity and cost.
3. tzhe use of gitOps along with codefresh has significantly reduced developer overhead wrt releases.
4. the proxy logs and config log viewer along with app logs has helped us a lot in debugging during Canary ffailures

What do you like best about the product?

Codefresh is the best way to centralize visualization and control of your CI/CD in a SaaS solution without losing sight of security. Your argoCD and pipeline instances can be on premise or integrated in codefresh plateform.

What do you dislike about the product?

the product could be more mature specifically on these on-premises deployment methods.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Codefresh centralize in one tools your CI/CD control and visualization.

What do you like best about the product?

Codefresh is one platform works better for both CI and CD. We use hosted gitops platform which helps us to eliminate the complex Argo setup and maintenance.

What do you dislike about the product?

Documentation need to improve and self help sections should be more detailed during usage of the product.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Codefresh solves our faster application delivery to customers and detailed tracking and alerting system helps engineer to resolve the problems quickly.

What do you like best about the product?

OCI artifact registry support is great, as it allows for pushing helm charts.

What do you dislike about the product?

Public API are poorly documented. Support for utilizing native docker compose API is limited.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

CICD automation.