GitHub or Azure DevOps? Three ways to host your code and run CI/CD
Your code is on GitHub and Azure DevOps also offers Git. Should you move? The options, what each costs you, and what usually works best.
Short answer: keep your code on GitHub. If you want Azure DevOps, use it for CI/CD and planning, and let the code stay where it is. For many small teams the simplest setup is a third option: stay fully on GitHub and use GitHub Actions to deploy to Azure.
The options
| A. Hybrid | B. All in Azure DevOps | C. All on GitHub | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Code | GitHub | Azure Repos | GitHub |
| CI/CD | Azure Pipelines | Azure Pipelines | GitHub Actions |
| Work tracking | Azure Boards (linked to GitHub) or GitHub Issues | Azure Boards | GitHub Issues and Projects |
| Migration effort | Low: install the Azure Pipelines GitHub App | High: move the repo and rewire every tool | None |
| Upstream and fork sync | Unchanged | Needs a manual or scripted mirror | Unchanged |
A. Keep GitHub, use Azure DevOps for CI/CD
This setup is common and Microsoft supports it directly.
- Pipeline YAML lives in the GitHub repo. Azure Pipelines runs on each push or pull request and reports results back as GitHub checks.
- You can make those checks required in GitHub branch protection.
- The Azure Boards GitHub app links commits and pull requests to work items (write
AB#123in a commit message). - You get Azure DevOps strengths (multi-stage pipelines, approvals, Boards, Test Plans) without giving up GitHub pull requests, Dependabot, code scanning, Copilot, or any tooling built on the GitHub API and
ghCLI.
B. Move everything to Azure DevOps
This is worth it only when something forces it: your organization has standardized on Azure DevOps, a compliance rule requires everything under one Microsoft Entra ID tenant, or you need Test Plans and Boards tied closely to the code. The costs:
- Azure Repos' "Import repository" brings over full Git history and branches, but not pull requests, reviews, issues or discussions.
- Every GitHub-based integration has to be rebuilt or replaced, including bots, security scanning, and developer tools that assume GitHub.
- If you track an upstream repo on GitHub, pulling its changes becomes a mirror job instead of a plain
git fetch upstream.
C. Stay fully on GitHub
For a small team, GitHub Actions with the azure/login action covers deployment to App Service, Container Apps, Static Web Apps and similar services. It has the fewest moving parts and keeps everything in one place. Microsoft has signaled GitHub as its long-term direction, while Azure DevOps remains fully supported.
Best practice, whichever you pick
- Don't move your code just to use Azure's CI/CD. Where the code lives and where CI/CD runs are separate decisions, and moving the code is the expensive, hard-to-undo part.
- Deploy to Azure with workload identity federation (OIDC), not stored secrets. GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines service connections both support it, so no long-lived client secrets are needed.
- Keep pipeline definitions in the repo as YAML, not in classic UI-defined pipelines, so they are versioned and reviewed like code.
- Use one work tracker. Running GitHub Issues and Azure Boards in parallel means they'll drift apart.
How to choose
- You just need build, test and deploy to Azure: C.
- You specifically want Azure Boards, release approvals or Test Plans: A.
- Your organization requires Azure DevOps for everything: B, and plan the migration of issues and pull request history separately, because import does not move them.