Digital.ai Release vs GitLab comparison

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Digital.ai Release

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Digital.ai Release and GitLab are competing in the agile delivery and DevOps domain. GitLab has the upper hand due to its extensive features and integration capabilities, considered worthy of its pricing.

Features: Digital.ai Release offers effective release management and deployment automation, suitable for enterprise-scale releases. Additionally, it integrates well with different deployment systems and tools like Jira and Bamboo, making it efficient for managing workflows. GitLab stands out with its all-in-one DevOps platform that encompasses code repository management and CI/CD pipelines, along with a user-friendly interface, making it a comprehensive tool for DevOps processes.

Room for Improvement: Digital.ai Release could enhance its adaptability for non-enterprise settings and simplify its learning curve. Improvements in UI and onboarding processes can make it more accessible. GitLab could enhance its advanced features usage and streamline its comprehensive documentation for easier access. It could also focus on expanding its feature set to avoid drop-off in usage complexity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Digital.ai Release is known for its structured deployment procedures and proactive customer support, catering to complex enterprise environments. GitLab offers flexible deployment models combined with extensive documentation and community support, enhancing convenience for various organizations.

Pricing and ROI: Digital.ai Release involves a higher initial setup cost that offers long-term ROI in large enterprises with its customizability. GitLab offers competitive pricing with a lower initial investment, providing a compelling ROI through its efficient, integrated platform, appealing to organizations seeking comprehensive DevOps solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Digital.ai Release vs. GitLab Report (Updated: January 2025).

Digital.ai Release vs. GitLab

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Helped 831,265 peers since 2012

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

Digital.ai Release

Ranking in Build Automation

16th

Ranking in Release Automation

9th

Ranking in DevSecOps

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GitLab

Ranking in Build Automation

1st

Ranking in Release Automation

2nd

Ranking in DevSecOps

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (10th), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (9th), Rapid Application Development Software (12th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of Digital.ai Release is 0.8%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 17.4%, down from 19.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

Navanath Gajare

DevOps Tech Lead at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Effectively automates deployments and applies one template across applications

Our company uses the solution to handle deployments for new releases. Whenever there is a new release, the solution creates a new provision template for deployment. We also orchestrate and manage all users. We integrate with other tools like GitHub, Jenkins, or Digital.ai Deploy to manage…

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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

"The most valuable feature of Digital.ai Release is its ability to communicate with various deployment systems, such as XLD and batch deployments, as well as integrate with tools, such as Flyway and Bamboo. We use Bamboo as our build orchestrator, and Digital.ai Release also integrates with Jira, another Atlassian solution. These capabilities make it a powerful tool for managing workflow, test automation, and other processes."

"The solution can apply one template across multiple applications."

"The orchestration, building the release, and then just executing it and managing that pipeline — the orchestration capabilities are great for that."

"The time is also reduced because the manual work has tremendously decreased. We just have to click one button, and it will create everything for us."

"The most valuable feature of GitLab is its security."

"They incorporate new features every September, and they have introduced their own code editor and AI features."

"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."

"When a developer checks in code, it is automatically built and deployed, and automated test cases are also run. We have extensive integration with GitLab, which helps us with source code management. We run the static code analysis using SonarQube."

"We're only using the basic features of GitLab and haven't used any advanced features. The solution works fine, so that's what we like about GitLab. We're party using GitHub and GitLab. We have a GitHub server, while we use GitLab locally or only within our team, and it works okay. We don't have any significant problems with the solution. We also found the straightforward setup, stability, and scalability of GitLab valuable."

"GitLab is scalable and works well with multiple environments."

"The solution makes the CI/CD pipelines easy to execute."

"We use the Git repository and tagging feature. We are a product-based company and use this solution to move to a forward or backward tag."

More GitLab pros

Cons

"Currently, we put artifact details manually. What we could improve, in our case, is the deployment instruction base. Developers input all the information, including which artifact and where it needs to be deployed. What Digital.ai could do is automatically go to the deployment instruction page, take those artifact details, and implement them."

"The backfill could be improved, we could automate that. Right now it's subjective — it's up to the lead developer's memory to remember to backfill."

"Digital.ai Release could improve by having a better plugin that works with Guardian that we use for mainframe migrations. If there could be an interface or plugin for Guardian that would be beneficial."

"The solution is a little bit expensive."

"Reporting could be improved."

"The solution does not have many built-in functions or variables so scripting is required."

"The solution could be faster."

"Technologies are always changing. Nowadays, new things like serverless computing and workload management have emerged. We have noticed a few gap items for faster service delivery. For example, we do user interface testing in the latest team and automate it using some tools. Recently, we integrated a tool with user interface testing, which can simulate a multi-user environment. So, we would like to see more integration with different platforms."

"In the free version, when a merge request is raised, there is no way to enforce certain rules. We can't enforce that this merge request must be reviewed or approved by two or three people in the team before it is pushed to the master branch. That's why we are exploring using some agents."

"GitLab could add a plugin to integrate with Kubernetes stuff."

"I would like to see static analysis also embedded in GitLab. That would also help us. If there's something that it does internally by GitLab and then that is already tied up with your pipeline and then it can tell you that you're coding is good or your code is not great. Based on that, it would pass or fail. That should be streamlined. I would think that would help to a greater extent, in terms of having one solution rather than depending on multiple vendors."

"As GitLab is not perfect, what needs improvement in the solution is the Wiki feature of the groups or the repertories because currently, it's not searchable by default. You'll need an indexing service such as Elasticsearch to make it searchable, and that requires too much work, so for me, it's the main feature that should be improved in GitLab. In the next version of the solution, from the top of my head, the documentation could be improved. Besides the Wiki, it would be good if there's documentation that would be automatically generated based on the code repository. In other words, there should be some tutorials from GitLab for developers in the next release."

More GitLab cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's license includes all features."

"Overall, the price is just too high; especially considering we're in the middle of a pandemic."

"GitLab is comparatively expensive, but it provides value because it's feature-rich."

"The solution is based on a subscription model and is reasonably priced."

"As I work in a vast enterprise, I'm unsure about the licensing cost for GitLab. It's the management team that takes care of that."

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

"There are different licensing options available, including a free limited-user license."

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

"I think that we pay approximately $100 USD per month."

"I don't mind the price because I use the free version."

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

55%

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

29%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Digital.ai Release ?

The time is also reduced because the manual work has tremendously decreased. We just have to click one button, and it will create everything for us.

What needs improvement with Digital.ai Release ?

There are many areas of improvement. Currently, we put artifact details manually. What we could improve, in our case, is the deployment instruction base. Developers input all the information, inclu...

What is your primary use case for Digital.ai Release ?

It helps with creating documentation, release processes, deploying to lower environments, scheduling meetings, and sending emails to stakeholders. The goal is to reduce manual work and save time.

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?

There are missing search features, particularly when searching repositories or applying filters. Additionally, I have encountered issues with the deployment of CI/CD pipelines, especially dealing w...

Jenkins vs Digital.ai Release

Comparisons

Compared 52% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Digital.ai Release

Compared 27% of the time

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Microsoft Azure DevOps vs GitLab

Compared 37% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs GitLab

Compared 8% of the time

GitHub CoPilot vs GitLab

Compared 8% of the time

AWS CodePipeline vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

Tekton vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Digital.ai Release

Download Digital.ai Release product report

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Also Known As

XL Release, XebiaLabs XL Release

Fuzzit

Learn More

Digital.ai

Overview

Automate, orchestrate, and gain visibility into your release pipelines at scale using Digital.ai Release, a release management tool that is designed for enterprises. Control and track releases, standardize processes, and bake compliance and security into your software release pipelines.

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

3M, GE, John Deere, Deutsche Telekom, Cable & Wireless, Xerox, and Société Générale, Liberty Mutual, EA, Rabobank

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

Digital.ai Release vs. GitLab