BuildBakery against two kinds of tools: mobile CI services (hosted Macs, signing, store uploads) and general-purpose pipelines (any workload, configured by you). BuildBakery covers the mobile and desktop app builds; it doesn't replace a pipeline for backends or infrastructure.
| BuildBakery | Mobile CI servicesCodemagic, Bitrise, EAS, Xcode Cloud, Appcircle | General pipelinesGitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, GitLab CI, CircleCI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosted Apple silicon Macs with Xcode ready | Yes | Yes | Hosted macOS runners exist, often at a premium per minute; you keep the toolchain current yourself |
| Run builds on your own Mac or Linux box, managed from the same dashboard | Yes, from the Home Baker plan, with one-line install, isolation and self-updates | Mostly hosted-only, or self-hosting on enterprise tiers | Self-hosted agents/runners, but you install, patch and isolate them |
| Own machines first, hosted overflow when they are busy | Automatic, per job | No | Possible with separate pools and labels you wire up yourself |
| iOS, Android, macOS, Linux and web in one short recipe | Yes | Usually; some are tied to one framework or one platform | Yes, but signing, caching and packaging are YAML and scripts you write |
| Code signing: certificates, profiles and keystores managed for you | Automatic Apple signing and Android keystores | Yes | Through marketplace actions/tasks and secret files |
| Signing guard: fail the build if it is signed with the wrong or debug key | Built in, by fingerprint or Apple team | Write your own verification step | Write your own verification step |
| Certificate and keystore expiry warnings in Slack | 30, 7 and 1 day(s) ahead | Varies | No |
| Plain-language failure explanation with a recipe fix | On any failed job | Varies by vendor | Varies; often a separate AI product |
| Install links with QR codes, posted on the pull request | Android and over-the-air iOS | Often via a separate distribution add-on | Build your own |
| Upload to App Store Connect / TestFlight, Google Play, Firebase, S3, SFTP | Yes | Yes | Marketplace actions, one per destination |
| Build on push and pull request, with commit statuses | GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket | Yes | Best in class, inside their own git host |
| Warm dependency caches without configuring them | Gradle, CocoaPods, SwiftPM, npm, yarn, pnpm, pub; sticky ovens | Usually opt-in steps | Cache actions/tasks you configure per job |
| Signed build provenance (SLSA) for every artifact | Yes | Rarely | Available with extra setup (attestation actions) |
| An MCP server so AI coding agents can bake and read logs | Yes | Varies | Varies |
| Backend deploys, infrastructure, approvals across many services | Not the goal: pair it with your pipeline | Not the goal | This is what they are for |
Summaries of each category, based on public documentation in 2026. Products change often, so check the vendor for details.
Choose it when You want a mature hosted service with deep Flutter tooling and never plan to use your own machines.
Choose BuildBakery when You want to use Macs you already own, with hosted minutes only when they are busy, and signing verification, expiry alerts and install links built in.
Choose it when You want a large catalog of ready-made steps and a visual workflow editor, and have the budget for it.
Choose BuildBakery when A short recipe instead of a step graph, flat plans instead of credits, and private ovens without an enterprise contract.
Choose it when Your app is Expo and you want builds, submissions and over-the-air updates from one vendor.
Choose BuildBakery when Any stack, native or cross-platform, including desktop and web, in the same batch and the same dashboard.
Choose it when You only ship to Apple platforms and want CI inside Xcode and App Store Connect.
Choose BuildBakery when Android, desktop and web next to iOS, your own Macs, custom toolchains, and a recipe in your repo.
Choose it when You build backends, libraries and infrastructure, and want CI next to the code with a huge marketplace.
Choose BuildBakery when You ship mobile or desktop apps and don't want to maintain signing, store uploads, Mac caches and install links in workflow YAML. Actions can call BuildBakery for those jobs.
Choose it when You are on Azure and need boards, approvals, environments and release gates across many teams.
Choose BuildBakery when No agent pools to patch or Xcode images to wait for. Trigger a batch from a pipeline task and get artifacts back.
Choose it when Your whole delivery process lives in one general CI and you have people to maintain the mobile parts.
Choose BuildBakery when You want the app builds handled by a service, on hosted ovens or your own, and the rest of the pipeline left where it is.
One step starts the batch, waits for it and downloads the artifacts. bakery bake exits 0 on success, 1 on a failed job, 2 if the batch was cancelled and 3 on timeout, so later stages can depend on it.
# .github/workflows/mobile.yml: keep your pipeline, let BuildBakery bake the apps
- name: Bake iOS and Android
env:
BAKERY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.BAKERY_TOKEN }} # project-scoped token
run: |
curl -fsSL https://buildbakery.com/install-cli.sh | sh
bakery bake -p my-app --git --branch "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" --download dist/# azure-pipelines.yml
- script: |
curl -fsSL https://buildbakery.com/install-cli.sh | sh
bakery bake -p my-app --git --branch "$(Build.SourceBranchName)" --download $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)
env:
BAKERY_TOKEN: $(BAKERY_TOKEN)