Semaphore
Semaphore is an AI-native CI/CD platform serving 1,000+ customers and 30,000+ engineers across 100+ countries, offering cloud, open-source Community Edition, and self-hosted Enterprise deployment options with usage-based pricing and optimized bare-metal infrastructure.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersNovi Sad
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Semaphore does
Semaphore is a CI/CD platform company that enables software development teams to build, test, and deploy code through automated pipelines. Founded in 2011 by Darko Fabijan and Marko Anastasov and headquartered in Novi Sad, Serbia, the company operates a fully remote international team and serves more than 1,000 customers across 100+ countries, with over 30,000 engineers actively using the platform. The company's technology centers on optimized bare-metal infrastructure that delivers measured build times averaging 5 minutes 1 second versus 9-13 minutes on competing platforms, and a $0.04 cost-per-job benchmark that undercuts GitHub Actions, GitLab, Buildkite, and CircleCI.
The product portfolio spans three deployment models: Semaphore Cloud (fully managed, usage-based), Semaphore Community Edition (free open-source under Apache 2.0 license, installable on Linux or Kubernetes), and Semaphore Enterprise Edition (commercial self-hosted with premium support and SLA tiers). A Hybrid model combines cloud management with self-hosted agents. Native modules include Continuous Integration & Pipelines, Deployments & Automation with ArgoCD/Terraform integration, Test Reports with flaky test detection, Metrics & Observability, Security & Compliance (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 certified), Monorepos support, Self-Hosted Agents, and a Developer Toolkit. In 2025-2026, Semaphore launched an AI-native product line including an MCP Server, an open-source "Semaphore for AI Agents" CLI, an Auto-Fix Skill, and .NET pipeline support.
Semaphore monetizes through a layered revenue model: usage-based cloud compute billing ($0.0025-$0.015/minute depending on machine class and deployment), enterprise self-hosted licensing (typically per-seat subscription), recurring support tier add-ons (Basic through SLA Premium), and Success add-ons (Visibility, Performance, Scale, Alliance). The free Community Edition serves as a top-of-funnel conversion vehicle. Named enterprise customers include Confluent, CallRail, Fabric Health Tech, GoCo, SimplePractice, Simply Business, and Zepto, spanning data infrastructure, healthcare technology, insurance, HR technology, and e-commerce sectors. No external venture capital or private equity funding has been disclosed; the company is founder-controlled and self-sustaining through customer revenue.
Semaphore firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Semaphore
- Legal name
- Semaphore Technologies doo
- Website
- https://semaphore.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Semaphore is an AI-native CI/CD platform serving 1,000+ customers and 30,000+ engineers across 100+ countries, offering cloud, open-source Community Edition, and self-hosted Enterprise deployment options with usage-based pricing and optimized bare-metal infrastructure.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Semaphore industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Platform
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Other Computer Related Services (541519)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Workflow-Oriented Integration & Orchestration (HDAEAIAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI) (HDAEANAI), Integration Monitoring, Observability & AIOps for Integration (HDAEAIAH)
Keywords
Where Semaphore is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Novi Sad
Offices1 record
Markets served
Semaphore business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Cloud Service - Compute Infrastructure: Pay-as-you-go usage-based billing for cloud compute minutes. Machine pricing at $0.0075-$0.015 per minute for hosted runners, with self-hosted agents at $0.0025 per minute. Revenue scales with customer build volume.
- Enterprise Self-Hosted Licensing: Commercial license for self-hosted Semaphore Enterprise Edition on Linux or Kubernetes, typically paid per user/seat on annual or multi-year contracts
- Support Add-ons: Optional support tiers (Basic, Priority Response, SLA Standard, SLA Premium) providing operational reliability and response time guarantees, billed as recurring add-ons
- Success Add-ons: Proactive optimization and enablement services (Visibility, Performance, Scale, Alliance tiers) providing guidance, training, and technical enablement
- Community Edition: Free open-source version with full functionality for self-hosting, generating community adoption and potential conversion to paid tiers
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | f1-standard-2 (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM) at $0.0075/min |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | f1-standard-4 (4 vCPU) at $0.015/min |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Self-hosted agents at $0.0025/min |
| Subscription | Monthly | Basic Support - Email during business hours |
| Subscription | Monthly | Priority Response - Email + Slack, 24/5 coverage |
| Subscription | Monthly | SLA Standard - Guaranteed response times, 24/5 coverage |
| Subscription | Monthly | SLA Premium - Faster SLAs, 24/5 with optional 24/7 |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Community Edition (Free) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Semaphore product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Semaphore is an AI-native continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform that enables engineering teams to build, test, and deploy software code through automated pipelines. The platform is delivered via three deployment editions — Semaphore Cloud (fully managed), Semaphore Community Edition (free open-source under Apache 2.0), and Semaphore Enterprise Edition (commercial self-hosted) — plus a Hybrid option combining cloud orchestration with self-hosted agents on customer infrastructure. Core capabilities include optimized bare-metal runners, AI agent integration via MCP server, flaky test detection, native Docker/Kubernetes/iOS/Android support, and visual workflow editing.
Product overview
Semaphore is an AI-native CI/CD platform available in three deployment editions — Semaphore Cloud (fully managed), Semaphore Community Edition (free open-source, Apache 2.0), and Semaphore Enterprise Edition (commercial self-hosted). A Hybrid option combines cloud management with self-hosted agents on customer infrastructure. The platform centers on Continuous Integration & Pipelines and Deployments & Automation as core modules, augmented by specialized capabilities including Self-Hosted Agents, an MCP Server for AI agent integration, Semaphore for AI Agents (open-source CLI), Metrics & Observability, Test Reports (with flaky test detection), Security & Compliance (SOC/ISO certified), Developer Toolkit (sem-version, sem-service), and Monorepos support. All editions share the same underlying platform that runs millions of jobs daily, with open source availability enabling community inspection and contribution.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Semaphore Community Edition (CE): Free, open-source version of Semaphore that can be self-hosted on Linux machines or Kubernetes clusters.
- Semaphore Cloud
- Semaphore Enterprise Edition (EE)
- Semaphore for AI Agents
Products and services
- Semaphore Cloud Fully managed, cloud-hosted CI/CD service requiring no maintenance from users. Provides automated scaling, pay-as-you-go pricing with machine classes at $0.0075-$0.015 per minute, and native Docker/Kubernetes/iOS/Android support. Targets engineering teams wanting instant onboarding without infrastructure management.
- Semaphore Community Edition (CE) Free, fully functional open-source CI/CD platform released under Apache 2.0 license, installable on Linux machines or Kubernetes clusters. Enables full inspection, contribution, and extension of the platform by DevOps teams. Includes source-available enterprise features.
- Semaphore Enterprise Edition (EE) Commercial, fully-featured self-hosted Semaphore instance for large organizations requiring on-premise CI/CD with premium support and SLA guarantees. Sold via annual or multi-year per-user licensing, bundled with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 compliance.
- Semaphore Hybrid Hybrid deployment model combining Semaphore Cloud management with self-hosted agents installed on customer-owned Linux machines or Kubernetes clusters. Designed for mid-market teams that need workloads running on their own infrastructure while leveraging Semaphore's orchestration services.
- Self-Hosted Agents Standalone agents that run on customer-owned Linux machines or Kubernetes clusters, enabling CI/CD pipelines to execute inside private environments. Sold as a usage-based offering at $0.0025 per minute with no seat costs, addressing data residency and compliance needs.
- MCP Server Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enabling AI coding assistants to interact with Semaphore workflows for debugging pipelines, analyzing tests, and automating CI/CD processes. Supports OAuth-based authentication and powers integration with AI coding agents.
- Semaphore for AI Agents Open-source CLI (sem-ai) that lets AI coding assistants interact with Semaphore to debug pipelines, analyze tests, and automate CI/CD workflows. Released as a standalone AI-native developer experience product for the CI/CD platform.
Quantifiable outcome
- 5m 01s average build time vs 9-13 min on competitors
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Semaphore
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Semaphore technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration10 records
AI capability7 records
Feature5 records
Semaphore partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Linux FoundationminorSemaphore is a Silver member of the Linux Foundation, demonstrating commitment to open source community and open standards in software development infrastructure.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Semaphore competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Semaphore social profiles
Digital presenceSemaphore compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Semaphore financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Semaphore leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Semaphore funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Semaphore 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 Semaphore
What does Semaphore do?
Semaphore is an AI-native continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform that enables engineering teams to build, test, and deploy software code through automated pipelines. The platform is delivered via three deployment editions — Semaphore Cloud (fully managed), Semaphore Community Edition (free open-source under Apache 2.0), and Semaphore Enterprise Edition (commercial self-hosted) — plus a Hybrid option combining cloud orchestration with self-hosted agents on customer infrastructure. Core capabilities include optimized bare-metal runners, AI agent integration via MCP server, flaky test detection, native Docker/Kubernetes/iOS/Android support, and visual workflow editing.
Is Semaphore a public or private company?
Semaphore is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Semaphore founded?
Semaphore was founded in 2011. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Semaphore based?
Semaphore is headquartered in Novi Sad.
How does Semaphore make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Cloud Service - Compute Infrastructure is the primary driver. The others are enterprise Self-Hosted Licensing, support Add-ons, success Add-ons and community Edition.
Does Semaphore have an API?
Yes. Semaphore provides an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server enabling AI coding assistants to interact with Semaphore for debugging pipelines, analyzing tests, and automating CI/CD workflows. Semaphore also exposes a CLI (Semaphore for AI Agents) — an open-source CLI that lets AI coding assistants interact with Semaphore. The MCP server supports OAuth-based authentication for AI agents. Developer documentation is at docs.semaphore.io.
What industry is Semaphore in?
Semaphore's product category is Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAIAG, Workflow-Oriented Integration & Orchestration, with a secondary code of HDAEANAI, AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI). Its NAICS code is 54151 and its SIC code is 7372.