AWS CodePipeline vs GitLab comparison

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AWS CodePipeline

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

GitLab and AWS CodePipeline compete in the DevOps and CI/CD category. GitLab has an edge with broader functionality in code management and integration flexibility, whereas AWS CodePipeline is preferred for its efficient deployment within the AWS ecosystem.

Features: GitLab is known for comprehensive CI/CD management, code review capabilities, and robust features like branch management and code merging. It offers integration with CIE and flexibility in development environments. AWS CodePipeline shines with smooth integration with AWS services, providing strong automation capabilities and efficient CI/CD implementations. It acts as a one-stop solution for integrating, deploying, and hosting applications within AWS.

Room for Improvement: GitLab could enhance integration with non-Kubernetes environments, expand metrics reporting for leadership, and refine third-party integrations such as with project management tools. AWS CodePipeline faces challenges in customization and lacks multi-cloud capabilities. Improving integration with non-AWS services and simplifying setup processes would enhance its usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab offers flexible deployment options across multiple cloud environments and on-premises with community support as its backbone. AWS CodePipeline operates within the AWS ecosystem, benefiting from AWS’s comprehensive support structure. Users of GitLab highlight the need for improved direct support, whereas AWS’s seamless integration aids smoother technical assistance.

Pricing and ROI: GitLab has diverse pricing, offering free and paid tiers. The Premium version is considered cost-effective, though Ultimate features are noted to be pricey. Its ROI is marked by reduced deployment times and enhanced DevOps productivity. AWS CodePipeline offers a pay-as-you-go model deemed affordable, with costs correlated to usage and associated AWS services. It is considered potentially pricier compared to alternatives but offers cost-effectiveness for frequent deployments. Both GitLab and AWS CodePipeline provide notable ROI, yet GitLab may be more appealing to smaller teams or organizations seeking a wide range of functionalities at different price points.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS CodePipeline vs. GitLab Report (Updated: March 2025).

AWS CodePipeline vs. GitLab

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

AWS CodePipeline

Ranking in Build Automation

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GitLab

Ranking in Build Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (8th), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (12th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of AWS CodePipeline is 6.0%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 16.9%, down from 18.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

Udhay Prakash Pethakamsetty

Data Engineer Manager at Capgemini

A fully managed service with excellent integrations and a flexible architecture

Compared to any other tools, AWS products provide better integrations. We have tools for all our needs. The integrations are good. The product is a fully managed service. We specify the various stages in the CI/CD process. We can do it without any external tools. Going through everything is usually an overhead for developers. It is like a configuration. We need to configure it only once. The integration with other AWS services has helped us. Our life as a developer is easy. We need not focus on the integration manually. If we work with third-party tools, we must consider connectivity, role management, security, authentication, and authorization. In AWS CodePipeline, if we have IAM roles configured and KMS for the credentials, we need not worry about anything else. Everything can be done within the tool. The integrations are the best part. We can track everything. The connectivity and scalability are good. The architecture is also flexible enough. We can add multiple things.

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Gaurav Chandel

AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy

Boosted productivity with automated pipelines and seamless collaboration

There are some challenges with repository file management as GitLab may struggle to manage larger files. Improvements could be made regarding size management and file partitioning. Also, the UI has remained the same for a couple of years and could benefit from an update with AI features and better customization.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Another big advantage is observability."

"It helps develop CI/CD implementations with centralized management of code building, deployment, and version control."

"The management of CodeBuild and CodeDeploy on a three-point trigger basis is an important feature."

"The notification and approval approach in the production environment are very useful."

"The product is a one-stop solution that you can use to integrate, deploy and host your application."

"The most valuable feature of AWS CodePipeline is the flexibility of the configuration."

"AWS CodePipeline has valuable integration features."

"I prefer using CodePipeline and CodeBuild in AWS due to their integration with AWS services, like directly deploying to ECS using Cloud Deploy."

More AWS CodePipeline pros

"GitLab offers a good interface for doing code reviews between two colleagues."

"GitLab is very well-organized and easy to use. Also, it offers most features that customers need."

"The solution has an established roadmap that lays out its plans for upgrades over the next two to three years."

"I like that you can use GitLab as a double-sided solution for both DevOps and version management. It's a good product for working in these two areas, and the user interface makes it easy to understand."

"It scales well."

"For us, Gitlab's most valuable feature is the integration with Cypress. We're using Cypress as an automation tool, so we're using GitLab as a tool for running in parallel."

"I like GitLab's security and SAS tools."

"We have seen a couple of merge requests or pull requests raised in GitLab. I see the interface, the way it shows the difference between the two source codes, that it is easy for anyone to do the review and then accept the request; the pull request is the valuable feature."

More GitLab pros

Cons

"AWS CodePipeline functions well, but there's room for improvement in providing technical support to regular customers who haven't purchased developer support. I mean, having it available for everyone, even if it's not a 24-hour service. It would be more useful if specific support hours were available for assistance."

"The solution could improve the documentation. Sometimes we have some issues with the documentation not updating after releasing .NET 6. We had some issues with building the code pipeline, and it was not updating the documentation. It's better to update the code documentation."

"In the next release, I would like to see fewer timeout errors."

"I would appreciate if we don't have to install any agents, even for EC2, to deploy using CodeDeploy into EC2 servers. It would help if AWS allows application deployment without requiring the Fortify agent installation."

"The support team’s response time must be improved."

"The setup time is a bit long."

"In AWS CodePipeline, we can only use certain tools for which AWS provisions plugins."

"It would be a much better tool if it could be made compatible with other cloud services as well since this is an area the product currently lacks."

More AWS CodePipeline cons

"I would like to have some features to support peer review."

"We have only seen a couple of issues on Gitlab, which we use for building some of the applications."

"GitLab can improve its user interface to make conflict resolution more user-friendly."

"I've noticed an area for improvement in GitLab, particularly needing to go through many steps to push the code to the repository. Resolving that issue would make the product better. My team quickly fixed it by writing a small script, then double-clicking or enabling the script to take care of the issue. However, that quick fix was from my team and not the GitLab team, so in the next release, if an automatic deployment feature would be available in GitLab, then that would be good because, in Visual Studio, you can do that with just one click of a button."

"When deploying the solution on cloud and the CI/CD pipeline, we have to define the steps and it becomes confusing."

"For as long as I have used GitLab, I haven't encountered any major limitations. However, I think that perhaps the search functionality could be better."

"We would like to have easier tutorials. Their tutorials are too technical for a user to understand. They should be more detailed but less technical."

"The licensing model could be improved to be more accommodating in terms of user numbers and costs."

More GitLab cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AWS CodePipeline is quite affordable. I've been running around four pipelines and the cost is around one dollar per month. It rarely exceeds two dollars."

"Compared to other cloud services, AWS CodePipeline falls a bit more on the pricey side. I see that the price of the product has been increasing for the past few years."

"The price of the product depends on how many times you run it. The tool offers a pay-as-you-go model."

"The product is quite expensive compared to other solutions."

"AWS offers free business or enterprise support services."

"AWS charges you based on the number of pipelines you have and how active they are, and I also think that the root account user knows about all the price-related metrics."

"The pricing of this solution is dependent upon your needs including how many jobs you daily and how many times the developer will be changing codes and completing deployments."

"The pricing is manageable."

More AWS CodePipeline pricing and cost advice

"My company uses the free version of GitLab, which is GitLab Community Edition. There is a licensed version also available for GitLab."

"This is an open-source solution."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"The open-source version is very good and the commercial version is reasonably priced."

"Its price is fine. It is on the cheaper side and not expensive. You have to pay additionally for GitLab CI/CD minutes. Initially, we used the free version. When we ran out of GitLab minutes, we migrated to the paid version."

"We are using the free version of GitLab."

"In terms of the pricing for GitLab, on a scale of one to five, with one being expensive and five being cheap, I'm rating pricing for the solution a four. It could still be cheaper because right now, my company has a small team, and sometimes it's difficult to use a paid product for a small team. You'd hope the team will grow and scale, but currently, you're paying a high license fee for a small team. I'm referring to the GitLab license that has premium features and will give you all features. This can be a problem for management to approve the high price of the license for a team this small."

"The price is okay."

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which AWS solution would you choose - CodeStar or CodePipeline?

Both AWS solutions deliver solid options, with uniquely different features. AWS CodeStar allows for quick development, building, and deployments of apps. It also provides web application and web se...

What do you like most about AWS CodePipeline?

Code deployment is the best feature.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CodePipeline?

AWS CodePipeline and its associated services do not incur significant additional charges. The cost primarily comes from deploying other AWS resources like EC2 and S3 alongside the pipeline.

What do you like most about GitLab?

I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitLab?

The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.

What needs improvement with GitLab?

Certain features in Jira are not available in GitLab, such as the functionality to have weights at the milestone and epic levels. Hopefully, these features will be resolved with work items in GitLa...

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Product Reports

AWS CodePipeline

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Download GitLab product report

Also Known As

CodePipeline

Fuzzit

Overview

AWS CodePipeline is a fully managed continuous delivery service that helps you automate your release pipelines for fast and reliable application and infrastructure updates. CodePipeline automates the build, test, and deploy phases of your release process every time there is a code change, based on the release model you define. This enables you to rapidly and reliably deliver features and updates. You can easily integrate AWS CodePipeline with third-party services such as GitHub or with your own custom plugin. With AWS CodePipeline, you only pay for what you use. There are no upfront fees or long-term commitments.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

GitLab is a complete DevOps platform that enables teams to collaborate and deliver software faster.

It provides a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle, from planning and development to testing, deployment, and monitoring.

With GitLab, teams can streamline their workflows, automate processes, and improve productivity.

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

1. NASA 2. IBM 3. Sony 4. Alibaba 5. CERN 6. Siemens 7. Volkswagen 8. ING 9. Ticketmaster 10. SpaceX 11. Adobe 12. Intuit 13. Autodesk 14. Rakuten 15. Unity Technologies 16. Pandora 17. Electronic Arts 18. Nordstrom 19. Verizon 20. Comcast 21. Philips 22. Deutsche Telekom 23. Orange 24. Fujitsu 25. Ericsson 26. Nokia 27. General Electric 28. Cisco 29. Accenture 30. Deloitte 31. PwC 32. KPMG

AWS CodePipeline vs. GitLab