GitOps vs. DevOps: Which Model Fits Your Cloud Engineering Stack?
As engineering teams push to modernize their cloud environments, two models continue to lead the conversation: GitOps vs. DevOps. While both aim to improve how software is delivered and how infrastructure is managed, they take fundamentally different routes to get there. And the stakes are high: a 2023 DORA report found that high-performing teams deploy code 973 times more frequently than low performers, thanks in large part to automated delivery pipelines. That kind of speed doesn’t happen by accident; it’s built into the process. Let’s break down their features one by one to help you compare GitOps vs. DevOps for cloud engineering and IaC. 1. Pipeline Type GitOps uses declarative pipelines, where you describe the desired end state of infrastructure in code. A GitOps agent (e.g., ArgoCD or Flux) ensures that the live environment always matches what’s stored in Git. DevOps pipelines are typically imperative; you write out the exact steps for your system to follow, from testing to depl...