SemaphoreCI
SemaphoreCI is a privately held AI-native CI/CD platform provider founded in 2011 in Novi Sad, Serbia, serving global DevOps and software development teams via Cloud, open-source Community Edition, Enterprise, and Hybrid deployments, with usage-based pricing at $0.04 per job and a 2025-launched MCP Server for AI coding agents.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersNovi Sad
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What SemaphoreCI does
SemaphoreCI is a privately held continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform provider founded in 2011 and headquartered in Novi Sad, Serbia (operating as Semaphore Technologies doo). The company serves software development and DevOps teams globally with an AI-native CI/CD platform distributed across four deployment models: a fully managed Semaphore Cloud SaaS, a free open-source Semaphore Community Edition for self-hosting, a commercial Semaphore Enterprise Edition for on-premise deployments, and a Semaphore Hybrid model combining cloud orchestration with on-premise job execution via self-hosted agents. Core product capabilities include continuous integration pipelines, deployment automation, metrics and observability, security and compliance, developer tooling, test reports, monorepo support, and Docker/Kubernetes integration, all running on optimized bare-metal servers with autoscaling.
The platform's underlying technology emphasizes build performance, with a published average build time of 5 minutes 1 second — reported as 94% faster than GitHub Actions, 124% faster than GitLab, and 165% faster than CircleCI on benchmarked workloads. Semaphore's go-to-market is product-led: developers sign up via GitHub, Bitbucket, or GitLab OAuth, evaluate on a free tier, and either self-host the open-source Community Edition or convert to paid Cloud or Enterprise. Cloud pricing is usage-based at $0.04 per job (the lowest among benchmarked competitors), while Enterprise is quote-based with annual billing. The company also sells via a sales-assisted 'Let's talk' path for enterprise deals, holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, and is a Silver member of the Linux Foundation.
In 2025, Semaphore extended its platform with the MCP Server and Semaphore for AI Agents — an open-source CLI enabling AI coding assistants to autonomously debug pipelines, analyze test results, and automate CI/CD workflows. Named customers include Confluent, CallRail, Simply Business, GoCo, SimplePractice, Fabric Health Tech, Zepto, and Trel. The company operates with 11–50 employees, has received multiple G2 awards in 2026 (Best Estimated ROI Mid-Market, High Performer Mid-Market Europe, Users Most Likely to Recommend Enterprise), and generates revenue through a mix of usage-based cloud, freemium open-source, and subscription enterprise contracts. No funding rounds, revenue figures, or institutional investors are disclosed in available sources.
SemaphoreCI firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- SemaphoreCI
- Legal name
- Semaphore Technologies doo
- Website
- https://semaphoreci.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- SemaphoreCI is a privately held AI-native CI/CD platform provider founded in 2011 in Novi Sad, Serbia, serving global DevOps and software development teams via Cloud, open-source Community Edition, Enterprise, and Hybrid deployments, with usage-based pricing at $0.04 per job and a 2025-launched MCP Server for AI coding agents.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
SemaphoreCI industry classification
Industry- Product category
- CI/CD Platform
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- CI/CD Pipeline Engineering & Automation (BPAEAKAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI) (HDAEANAI), Cloud Automation & IaC (Terraform, CI/CD, Policy-as-Code) (BPAEACAL), Cloud-Native Development (Containers, Kubernetes, Microservices) (BPAEACAD)
Keywords
Where SemaphoreCI is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Novi Sad
Offices1 record
Markets served
SemaphoreCI business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Cloud CI/CD (Pay-as-you-go): Semaphore Cloud charges per job execution at $0.04 per job, with no subscription fee. Customers pay only for what they use, making it accessible for small teams and cost-efficient at scale. The free tier provides limited usage for evaluation.
- Enterprise Edition (EE) Subscription: Commercial, fully-featured Semaphore instance for large enterprises requiring on-premise hosting, premium support, and advanced compliance features. Priced via sales-led engagement (quote-based).
- Community Edition (Free Open Source): Free, open-source version (Community Edition) downloadable for self-hosting on Linux or Kubernetes. No direct revenue; used as a community/brand-building and top-of-funnel acquisition channel for paid tiers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Evaluation Tier |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Cloud Pay-as-you-go |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise Edition (On-premise) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels9 records
SemaphoreCI product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Semaphore provides an AI-native continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform that automates software build, test, and deployment workflows. The platform runs on optimized bare-metal servers with autoscaling and offers a visual pipeline editor, Docker and Kubernetes-native execution, and an MCP Server enabling AI coding agents to debug and orchestrate CI/CD jobs. It is sold in four deployment variants: a fully managed Cloud SaaS, a free open-source Community Edition, an on-premise Enterprise Edition, and a Hybrid option combining cloud orchestration with self-hosted agents.
Product overview
SemaphoreCI offers an AI-native CI/CD platform available in four deployment variants: Semaphore Cloud (fully managed SaaS), Semaphore Community Edition (free open-source), Semaphore Enterprise Edition (commercial self-hosted), and Semaphore Hybrid. The platform's core Continuous Integration & Pipelines product delivers fast builds using optimized bare-metal servers with visual workflow editing. Additional modules include Deployments & Automation, Metrics & Observability, Security & Compliance, Developer Toolkit, Test Reports, Monorepos, and Self-hosted Agents. The platform recently launched the MCP Server and Semaphore for AI Agents to enable AI coding assistants to autonomously debug pipelines and automate CI/CD workflows, positioning Semaphore as an AI-driven CI/CD solution.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Semaphore Cloud Fully managed, cloud-based continuous integration and delivery service that runs pipelines on optimized bare-metal servers with autoscaling, targeted at development teams that want zero-maintenance CI/CD via self-serve signup with GitHub, Bitbucket, or GitLab OAuth.
- Semaphore Community Edition (Open Source) Free, open-source CI/CD platform that organizations can self-host on a single Linux machine or Kubernetes cluster; serves as the top-of-funnel acquisition channel for paid Cloud and Enterprise tiers.
- Semaphore Enterprise Edition Commercial, fully-featured Semaphore instance for large companies that require on-premise hosting of the CI/CD control plane with premium support, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance, and quote-based pricing.
- Semaphore Hybrid Hybrid CI/CD deployment combining Semaphore's cloud-managed control plane with self-hosted agents running on customer-owned servers, enabling on-premise execution with cloud-based orchestration.
- Continuous Integration & Pipelines Core continuous integration and pipeline orchestration capability of Semaphore, providing fast builds, visual pipeline editing, parallel test execution, and Docker/Kubernetes-native pipelines for software engineering teams.
- MCP Server Open-source Model Context Protocol server that lets AI coding assistants interact with Semaphore to debug pipelines, analyze tests, and automate CI/CD workflows, sold as a standalone integration within the Semaphore product.
- Semaphore for AI Agents Open-source CLI that enables AI coding assistants to interact with Semaphore for AI-native developer experience in CI/CD, including autonomous pipeline debugging and test analysis.
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 50% faster build times
- +8 more outcomes
Companies that use SemaphoreCI
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
SemaphoreCI technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability4 records
Feature5 records
SemaphoreCI partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- GitHubcoreSemaphore integrates with GitHub via OAuth for authentication (login/signup) and supports GitHub repositories as the primary source control integration for CI/CD pipelines. GitHub is listed as a primary login option on the signup page and supports code checkout within Semaphore pipelines.
- Bitbucket (Atlassian)coreSemaphore integrates with Bitbucket via Atlassian OAuth for authentication and supports Bitbucket repositories for CI/CD pipeline source control. Listed as a primary login option alongside GitHub and GitLab.
- GitLabcoreSemaphore integrates with GitLab via OAuth for authentication and supports GitLab repositories as a source control option for CI/CD pipelines. Available as a login/signup option.
- Linux FoundationflagshipSemaphore is a member (Silver member) of the Linux Foundation. The company leverages open-source principles (evidenced by its Community Edition open-source product) and aligns its brand with the Linux Foundation ecosystem for credibility and community engagement in the DevOps/open-source space.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
SemaphoreCI competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Jenkins: Long-standing open-source CI/CD automation server. Semaphore publishes a 'Semaphore vs Jenkins' comparison and the Community Edition positions Semaphore as a more modern open-source alternative.
- GitHub Actions: Bundled CI/CD offering inside the GitHub platform with a massive install base. Used as Semaphore's primary performance benchmark (94% faster claim) and represents the most important competitive threat.
- GitLab CI/CD: Integrated DevOps platform with CI/CD as one module of a broader ALM/DevOps suite. Semaphore benchmarks against GitLab (124% faster claim) and supports GitLab OAuth for authentication and source control.
- Bitbucket Pipelines: Atlassian's integrated CI/CD product, bundled with Bitbucket. Semaphore supports Bitbucket OAuth and explicitly publishes a 'Semaphore vs Bitbucket Pipelines' comparison page.
- Azure Pipelines: Microsoft's CI/CD offering integrated with Azure DevOps. Represents the enterprise-bundled competitive set that Semaphore's Enterprise Edition must displace in regulated accounts.
Direct peers
- CircleCI: Direct CI/CD SaaS competitor with cloud and self-hosted tiers targeting engineering teams. Semaphore's GoCo case study is explicitly framed as a migration from CircleCI, making them the closest head-to-head comparison.
- Buildkite: Hybrid CI/CD platform pairing a cloud control plane with self-hosted agents — structurally analogous to Semaphore's Hybrid model. Explicitly benchmarked competitor ($0.09/job).
- Harness: Modern CI/CD platform with cloud and self-hosted editions, AI-assisted features (CI Agent, test intelligence) and a similar enterprise go-to-market motion. A VC-funded direct competitor in the same product category.
- Travis CI: Cloud CI/CD pioneer now repositioned as a CI/CD platform for private and open-source projects. Semaphore publishes an explicit 'vs Travis CI' comparison, signaling direct category overlap.
Emerging players
- Drone.io: Container-native CI/CD platform with both open-source and cloud offerings. Comparable to Semaphore's Docker/Kubernetes-native positioning and open-source distribution model.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
SemaphoreCI social profiles
Digital presenceSemaphoreCI compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
SemaphoreCI financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
SemaphoreCI leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
SemaphoreCI funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
SemaphoreCI M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about SemaphoreCI
What does SemaphoreCI do?
Semaphore provides an AI-native continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform that automates software build, test, and deployment workflows. The platform runs on optimized bare-metal servers with autoscaling and offers a visual pipeline editor, Docker and Kubernetes-native execution, and an MCP Server enabling AI coding agents to debug and orchestrate CI/CD jobs. It is sold in four deployment variants: a fully managed Cloud SaaS, a free open-source Community Edition, an on-premise Enterprise Edition, and a Hybrid option combining cloud orchestration with self-hosted agents.
Is SemaphoreCI a public or private company?
SemaphoreCI is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was SemaphoreCI founded?
SemaphoreCI was founded in 2011. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is SemaphoreCI based?
SemaphoreCI is headquartered in Novi Sad.
How does SemaphoreCI make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Cloud CI/CD (Pay-as-you-go) is the primary driver. The others are enterprise Edition (EE) Subscription and community Edition (Free Open Source).
Who are SemaphoreCI's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Bitbucket Pipelines and Azure Pipelines. Direct peers are CircleCI, Buildkite, Harness and Travis CI. Drone.io is listed as an emerging player.
Does SemaphoreCI have an API?
Yes. Semaphore provides a public API that allows developers to access and control CI/CD pipelines programmatically. The platform offers a RESTful API for automation and integration purposes, as evidenced by documentation at docs.semaphore.io/reference/api. The MCP Server is an open-source CLI that enables AI coding assistants to interact with Semaphore for debugging pipelines, analyzing tests, and automating CI/CD workflows. Developer documentation is at docs.semaphore.io/reference/api.
What industry is SemaphoreCI in?
SemaphoreCI's product category is CI/CD Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEAKAB, CI/CD Pipeline Engineering & Automation, with a secondary code of HDAEANAI, AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI). Its NAICS code is 5182 and its SIC code is 7372.