Shipyard review
A managed preview platform with deep workflow support and a high starting price.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Shipyard creates isolated, full-stack ephemeral environments from Docker Compose configurations. It is designed for development, QA, product, demo, and DevOps teams that need shareable environments for pull-request review and CI/CD testing. Automatic provisioning, GitOps-triggered rebuilds, configurable expiry, and scale-to-zero behavior support a preview lifecycle from code change through teardown. The platform runs through web, API, and self-hosted options, with integrations for GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.
Pricing is aimed at organizations with a substantial preview-environment budget. The Startup plan costs $500 per month and includes developer environments, SSO, Configurable Launch, Shipyard Cloud resources, GitOps support, and email support. A 30-day trial is available. Business adds 10+ Drydocks, the Shipyard CLI, API access, CircleCI Orb, GitHub Action, and QA, product, and demo environments. Enterprise adds static cluster IP addresses, audit logs, remote environments, OnPrem environments, custom onboarding, and hybrid on-prem support; Business and Enterprise pricing is custom.
Shipyard’s strongest fit is teams that need more than a simple pull-request URL. It combines shareable environment URLs, build and runtime logs, CI/CD testing, SSO-protected access, database previews, and management through the CLI, API, or MCP. Cypress, Playwright, Slack, Terraform, and Datadog integrations extend the workflow across testing, communication, infrastructure, and monitoring. Choose Shipyard when enterprise controls, full-stack previews, and deployment flexibility justify the cost. Teams seeking a lower-cost preview tool or a narrower workflow may find the Startup entry price difficult to justify.
Shipyard pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Full-stack Docker Compose environments with automatic teardown
- GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket support with CI/CD integrations
- SSO, audit logs, APIs, CLI, and MCP environment management
- Where it doesn't
- Startup starts at $500 per month
- Business and Enterprise plans use custom pricing
- Advanced enterprise features are reserved for higher tiers
Shipyard fact sheet, pricing and score →
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