16 DevOps automation tools to simplify your workflows and deployments

DevOps automation tools should work for you, not the other way round.

Setting up deployments, managing infrastructure, and fixing pipeline issues slow development and disrupt workflows. Using the right DevOps automation tools solves this, but knowing the most suitable option for your needs is where the work is.

Organizations that integrate DevOps automation report a 61% improvement in software quality, a 57% reduction in deployment failures, and a 55% decrease in IT costs. This shows that automation is a key part of scaling development.

We’ll walk you through 16 DevOps automation tools, how they fit into your workflow, and what makes them useful.

Let’s break down what these tools do, how they fit into your workflow, and how to choose the best one for your needs.

A developer on Reddit raised a common issue: deployments are tedious when they break or take too long. One response summed it up well: Manual deployments create too many failure points, and long gaps between releases make debugging harder.

This is one reason DevOps automation tools exist. They help automate deployments, manage infrastructure, allocate cloud resources, and align workflows.

So, basically, they replace repetitive tasks with structured processes that scale with your workloads.

You don’t have to spend time fixing the same deployment issues over and over. You can automate different parts of your DevOps workflow to increase speed and reliability. Let’s see how:

• CI/CD automation: Automates builds, tests, and deployments without delays. Tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and Northflank manage versioning, testing, and delivery pipelines so you don’t have to troubleshoot broken releases manually.
• Infrastructure automation: Provisions and configures servers and cloud environments consistently. Terraform and Pulumi replace manual setup with reusable configurations to keep deployments predictable.
• Cloud automation: Allocates resources and scales applications based on demand. Kubernetes and Portainer simplify deployment and maintenance for cloud-native workloads.
• Workflow automation: Keeps development and operations aligned by managing deployments, enforcing policies, and maintaining environment consistency. ArgoCD, Ansible, and Spinnaker handle orchestration, security rules, and infrastructure changes.

We’ve seen how automation keeps deployments running without constant intervention. Now let’s look at what that means for your team in practice:

CI/CD pipelines catch failures before they reach production. Tools like Jenkins and Northflank automatically run builds and tests, so broken code doesn’t delay releases. If a deployment fails, automated rollbacks keep services running without manual intervention.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) standardizes configurations so environments stay consistent across teams. With Terraform, developers and platform engineers work from the same setup, no last-minute surprises when moving from staging to production.

Cloud automation scales infrastructure based on demand. Kubernetes and Portainer adjust workloads dynamically, so you’re not paying for unused resources or scrambling to add capacity when traffic spikes.

Security checks need to happen at every stage, not just before production. Tools like Ansible and Spinnaker enforce access controls, apply patches, and check compliance automatically. Rather than slowing down releases, security becomes part of the pipeline.

Knowing the most suitable DevOps automation tools for your workflow can save your team time and reduce deployment failures. Let’s go through the best options and how they help.

Managing CI/CD, infrastructure, and scaling separately slows down deployments and creates unnecessary complexity. Northflank automates these processes in one platform, so your team doesn’t have to manage multiple tools just to deploy and maintain applications.

Your pipelines can trigger builds, tests, and deployments automatically, reducing manual steps and lowering failure rates. Scaling is built-in, so applications adjust to demand without extra configuration.

If your team is working with microservices or cloud-native applications, this kind of automation keeps everything connected. Push code, and Northflank handles the rest.

See how Weights uses Northflank to scale to millions of users without a DevOps team

Provisioning infrastructure manually takes time, and misconfigurations can break deployments. Terraform lets you define infrastructure as code, so everything is predictable and version-controlled.

Your team can spin up cloud instances, set up networking, and configure Kubernetes clusters using declarative configurations. Deployments are consistent across environments, reducing last-minute surprises.

If you’re running applications across AWS, Google Cloud, or on-prem servers, Terraform makes it easier to manage everything without logging into different platforms.

Running applications across different environments often leads to dependency issues. Docker solves this by packaging applications with everything they need so they work the same everywhere.

Your team can create lightweight, portable containers that run on any system without needing extra setup. Local development, CI/CD, and production environments stay in sync, reducing the stress of deployment.

If you’re onboarding new developers, they can spin up a complete environment in seconds rather than spending hours manually installing dependencies.

Learn about Docker Build and Buildx best practices for optimized builds

Running containers in production without orchestration leads to downtime and scaling issues. Kubernetes automates deployment, scaling, and management, so applications stay available even when workloads shift.

You can deploy microservices, manage rollouts, and balance traffic without manually adjusting configurations. Kubernetes ensures applications recover from failures automatically, reducing manual intervention.

For teams handling cloud-native applications, this makes deployments far more reliable.

See this guide “Kubernetes alternatives: finding the right fit for your team"

Setting up and managing containers can feel overwhelming without a centralized interface. Portainer provides a visual dashboard for deploying, monitoring, and troubleshooting containers and Kubernetes clusters.

Rather than running CLI commands, you can configure networking, manage access controls, and track deployments through an interactive UI. This is useful if your team is adopting Kubernetes but wants a simpler way to manage it.

If your company is running multiple environments, Portainer makes container management more accessible without sacrificing control.

See “5 best Portainer alternatives for enterprise Kubernetes and Docker management”

Waiting on manual deployments slows down development. Jenkins automates build, test, and deployment pipelines so that every commit triggers a reliable workflow.

It integrates with cloud providers, container platforms, and infrastructure tools, making it adaptable to different workflows. No matter if your team needs a simple CI/CD setup or complex multi-stage pipelines, Jenkins provides flexibility.

For larger teams working across multiple services, Jenkins helps coordinate deployments across different environments with minimal manual effort.

See “Jenkins alternatives in 2025: CI/CD tools that won’t frustrate DevOps engineers”

CI/CD should be tightly integrated with your codebase. GitHub Actions lets you define workflows inside your repository, so builds and tests run automatically with every commit.

Rather than using external CI/CD tools, workflows trigger based on events like pull requests or releases. Your team can automate testing; container builds, and deployments without leaving GitHub.

For teams already managing code on GitHub, this simplifies automation.

Learn how to use a GitHub Action to deploy to Northflank

Manually configuring servers and environments leads to inconsistency and downtime. Ansible automates configuration management, software installation, and system updates across multiple machines.

Your team can define desired system states using YAML-based playbooks. Once applied, Ansible ensures all machines are configured correctly. This reduces errors in infrastructure and speeds up provisioning.

If your company manages multiple cloud environments or hybrid infrastructure, Ansible keeps everything in sync.

Deploying applications in Kubernetes can be complex without automation. ArgoCD automates GitOps workflows, so your infrastructure and applications stay in sync with your repository.

Your team can define deployment configurations in Git, and ArgoCD continuously enforces these states. If any configuration drifts, ArgoCD detects and corrects it automatically.

This ensures Kubernetes deployments remain stable without requiring manual intervention.

See Argo CD alternatives that don’t give you brain damage and simplify DX for GitOps, clusters & deployments

Deploying applications across different cloud providers can be challenging. Spinnaker simplifies multi-cloud deployments by providing automated release management and rollout strategies.

Your team can define continuous delivery pipelines that work across AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, and more. Canary deployments and rollback features make releases safer.

For companies using hybrid or multi-cloud environments, Spinnaker makes deployments manageable.

Tracking performance and identifying issues manually is impractical. Prometheus collects metrics and alerts on anomalies and provides real-time monitoring for applications and infrastructure.

Your team can set up custom metrics, analyze trends, and trigger alerts when thresholds are exceeded.

For DevOps teams managing large-scale applications, Prometheus helps detect failures before they impact users.

See Application Performance Monitoring on Northflank with Autometrics (which is built on Prometheus)

Manually testing every deployment slows down releases and increases the chance of missed bugs. Selenium automates browser testing, so your team can run UI tests across multiple environments.

You can integrate Selenium into your CI/CD pipeline to catch regressions before they reach production.

For teams building web applications, automated testing with Selenium reduces the risk of broken features.

If writing YAML or JSON for infrastructure feels restrictive, Pulumi lets you define cloud infrastructure using Python, TypeScript, Go, and more.

Your team can provision, update, and manage infrastructure with the same programming skills used for application development.

For developers looking to integrate infrastructure directly into their codebase, Pulumi provides a modern alternative.

Your application might be running, but users could experience crashes or slow response times without proper monitoring. Raygun provides real-time error tracking and performance diagnostics.

Your team can trace issues to the exact line of code, fix performance bottlenecks, and improve response times.

Keeping infrastructure and application environments consistent across multiple deployments is difficult without automation. Chef automates system configuration, application setup, and policy enforcement using code-driven workflows.

Your team can define infrastructure as code and apply configurations across multiple servers without manually updating each one. This is useful for managing large-scale environments and automatically enforcing security policies.

If your organization needs a way to standardize deployments across cloud and on-premise environments, Chef makes it easier to maintain consistency.

CI/CD should be reliable and fast. CircleCI automates builds, testing, and deployments with optimized pipelines that speed up releases.

Your team can integrate with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud providers, ensuring every commit goes through automated validation before deployment.

You’ve seen the best DevOps automation tools, but knowing which one fits your workflow is the next step. The right choice depends on what you’re automating, how your team works, and the level of control you need.

A great example is Clock, a digital agency managing deployments for brands like Riot Games, Epic Games, and Times Plus. They had over 70 environments but struggled with long staging times, manual scaling, and unpredictable costs. Deployments took weeks, and scaling required hands-on coordination from the ops team. After switching to Northflank, they cut provisioning times from weeks to hours, automated scaling to handle 20,000 requests per second, and gained full cost transparency. You can read the full case study.

If you’re making a similar decision, a few key factors can help:

→ Integration: Does it work with your existing stack? Tools like GitHub Actions make sense if your code is already on GitHub, while Terraform integrates well with cloud providers for infrastructure automation.

→ Scalability: Can it handle growth? Kubernetes is built for scaling applications, while Spinnaker supports multi-cloud deployments.

→ Security: Does it support policies, access controls, and compliance? Ansible automates security patching, and ArgoCD enforces GitOps policies to keep environments consistent.

→ Ease of use: Does your team need a UI-based tool or full automation with scripts? Portainer simplifies container management visually, while Jenkins and CircleCI give you more flexibility for complex pipelines.

→ Cost and maintenance: Is it open-source or a managed service? Pulumi and Chef give you infrastructure as code, but managed platforms like Northflank reduce the overhead of self-hosting.

We've covered how DevOps automation tools help your team move faster, reduce errors, and scale without the manual overhead. Choosing the right tool depends on how well it fits into your workflow, simplifies deployments, and keeps operations running reliably.

Now, it's time to put DevOps automation into action. If you're looking for a CI/CD and infrastructure automation platform that takes out deployment roadblocks, Northflank makes it easy to set up pipelines, manage services, and scale applications. You can get started for free.