App Center
App Center is a Microsoft service that offers tools for mobile app development, including continuous integration, testing, and monitoring for platforms such as iOS and Android.
What is App Center?
App Center is a cloud-based service by Microsoft that supports mobile app development for platforms such as iOS, Android, Xamarin, and React Native. It offers tools for continuous integration, automated testing, app distribution, and monitoring, including crash analytics and push notifications. App Center provides a set of features aimed at streamlining the development process for building, testing, and releasing mobile apps, such as CodePush for seamless over-the-air (OTA) updates, as well as analytics and user insights.
It's important to note that Microsoft has announced the retirement of App Center, including all its services such as CodePush. If you are looking for an alternative, consider Appcircle, which also offers a CodePush alternative. Fore more details you can visit the official announcement.
Appcircle vs App Center
Compare Appcircle with App Center as Mobile CI/CD and DevOps tools and discover how Appcircle stands out.
Top Alternatives to App Center
- Enterprise-grade all-in-one mobile CI/CD platform.
- Supports both self-hosted and cloud deployment options.
- Includes Testing Distribution and Enterprise App Store modules.
- Ideal for enterprises with complex security and mobile CI/CD requirements.
- Offers Appcircle CodePush, the best alternative to App Center CodePush.
- IAM & SSO integration (OpenID & SAML) for secure access control.
- Advanced Build Configuration with customizable workflows.
- Offers multi-tenancy for better workspace organization.
- Advanced Signing Identities management.
- Provides enterprise-grade logs and detailed reporting.
Others
Bitrise
Bitrise offers a limited publishing flow, lacks a self-hosted deployment option, and does not include signing identity management, which might impact flexibility and control for some teams.
Codemagic
Codemagic offers more restricted customization options, lacks a self-hosted option, and has limited testing distribution capabilities.
Xcode Cloud
Xcode Cloud supports only iOS development, offers a more limited selection of pre-built workflow steps compared to other platforms, and does not provide a self-hosted deployment option.
FAQs
Appcircle vs. App Center
Compare Appcircle with App Center as Mobile CI/CD and DevOps tools and discover how Appcircle stands out.
Flexible Deployment Options
Every enterprise is unique and may require different deployment options, such as Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, or on-premise solutions. Appcircle addresses these needs with a portable, container-based architecture that aligns with your specific deployment requirements and helps prevent cloud vendor lock-in. Whether you choose to deploy on GCP Public Cloud, on-premise, or privately through the AWS Marketplace, Appcircle is built to meet your needs.
Distribution Speed & Security
Multi-region secure CDNs ensure your app builds are globally accessible with optimized performance, even in regions with unique internet regulations. With encryption at rest and in transit, your packages are distributed securely.
Built for Purpose
Distribution platforms serve different purposes, such as Testing Distribution or deploying in-house apps to internal users via an Enterprise App Store. Appcircle offers dedicated modules tailored for each of these use cases.
IAM/SSO Integration
Comprehensive security with IAM/SSO integration, including Identity Providers such as Okta, Azure AD, and OneLogin, along with support for authentication protocols like LDAP, OpenID and SAML The platform also supports IAM role mapping (through LDAP and SSO), enabling seamless role and permission assignments based on identity provider groups for enhanced access control.
Apple Ad-Hoc Device Registration
Streamlined UDID registration for Apple devices with configuration profiles. The platform automatically adds device UDIDs to provisioning profiles, simplifying device management for app distribution and testing.
Re-signing Binaries for iOS and Android Apps
Support for re-signing iOS and Android binaries allows developers to re-sign apps with new certificates (iOS) or keystores (Android), ensuring app integrity and security.
CI Integration
Seamless integration with existing CI/CD tools is supported. With ready-to-use plugins for Azure DevOps, GitHub, Fastlane, Jenkins and more, plus API/CLI support, you can easily integrate Appcircle Distribution into your existing CI workflow.
End-to-End Platform
Many distribution tools offer only limited functionality for tasks such as building and publishing to app stores. If you plan to leverage these features, ensure the platform provides robust, comprehensive modules for Build, Signing Identity Management, and Publishing to Stores to fully address your needs.
Appcircle
App Center
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Azure DevOps Services Cloud, Azure DevOps Server, GitHub, Bitbucket, Bitbucket (Self-Hosted), GitLab, GitLab (Self-Hosted)
GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, GitLab (Self-Hosted) (For Organization Accounts Only)
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Partially supported with Azure DevOps integration
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Only for 3 events (post-clone, pre-build, post-build)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
(Not Centralized)
Yes
No
Yes
No
Utilizes AWS Device Farm and Firebase Test Lab
30 day trial for Azure Device Farm
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
OpenID & SAML
No
Supports LDAP group/role mapping, enabling seamless integration with your organization's directory services for effective and automated tester group management.
No
Yes
No
Appcircle CodePush
App Center CodePush
No
Yes
Public Cloud, Private Cloud, On-premise, AWS (Amazon Web Services), GCP (Google Cloud Platform), Azure
Public Cloud (Azure)
Yes
No
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the authors. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors is of their opinion and are not intended to malign any organization, company, individual or anyone or anything. This comparison is based on their review of the product for market research purposes
Switching to another CI/CD tool can be a complex decision. Switching to Appcircle is easy,however we've prepared this comparison to help you decide easier.
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