GitHub CoPilot vs GitLab comparison

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97% willing to recommend

GitHub CoPilot

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

GitLab and GitHub CoPilot compete in the software development and version control arena. GitLab seems to have an upper hand with its comprehensive feature set that supports a wide range of DevOps activities, while GitHub CoPilot is notable for its advanced AI-driven code suggestion features, aimed at enhancing developer productivity.

Features: GitLab is recognized for its CI/CD pipeline management, repository control, and seamless integration capabilities. GitHub CoPilot, however, focuses on code suggestion, multi-language support, and test case creation, improving coding efficiency by reducing manual coding time.

Room for Improvement: GitLab could benefit from better integration with AWS, enhanced project management compatibility, and improved documentation. GitHub CoPilot needs more accurate code suggestions, support for more languages, and improved integration with various development environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab offers flexible deployment options including public, private, and hybrid clouds, supported by community-driven assistance with limited response for free users. GitHub CoPilot provides on-premises deployment, relying on community and licensing-based support, but lacks GitLab's cloud flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: GitLab is available as open-source and paid versions, suitable for small teams to enterprises, though the Ultimate edition might require business justification. GitHub CoPilot has a tiered pricing model, including a free version, with additional costs for enterprise use which can be substantial for larger teams.

To learn more, read our detailed GitHub CoPilot vs. GitLab Report (Updated: December 2024).

GitHub CoPilot vs. GitLab

December 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 831,020 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

GitHub CoPilot

Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Code Assistants (2nd)

GitLab

Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software

12th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (10th), Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (9th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of GitHub CoPilot is 4.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 2.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rapid Application Development Software

Featured Reviews

Sathya Prasad

Director at Synechron

Enhances our productivity while coding and provides suggestions and reviews

If you're considering a complete CI/CD pipeline, you'll need to integrate various tools such as Jenkins for builds and ensure connectivity with platforms like AWS or Azure. All these aspects must be managed effectively. Therefore, it's essential to have a dedicated configuration management team to oversee and maintain the pipeline. We're working on developing our in-house AI tool. GitHub Copilot, closely integrated with Microsoft products like .NET, offers extensive support for various programming languages. For example, it supports a wide range of languages, while a customized tool might only cover around seventy percent of the same range. It definitely can do a little bit of statistical analysis and give recommendations. I would recommend considering GitHub Copilot. If you already use another tool, be aware of the migration effort required to switch to Copilot. Assess the process of adopting and onboarding Copilot to ensure a smooth transition. If you're moving from one tool to Copilot, you'll need to evaluate the migration effort involved. It’s essential to have early adopters to facilitate this process. Overall, I rate the solution a nine-point five out of ten.

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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

"When I write code, I feel like I have someone sitting with me to help me. Wherever I'm stuck, I just ask a question, and it provides guidance that I can use."

"The initial setup of the product is easy."

"The platform's most valuable feature is its code suggestion capability, which leverages AI to provide context-aware suggestions."

"The product's most valuable feature is vulnerability management features."

"GitHub Copilot code suggestion capabilities are always good."

"The product's initial setup phase is easy."

"GitHub CoPilot is easy to use even for beginners and it supports the integration with CI/CD tools."

"In terms of understanding user queries and providing code that aligns with my expectations, there is room for improvement."

More GitHub CoPilot pros

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

"We like that we can have an all-encompassing product and don't have to implement different solutions."

"I like that it's easy to deploy our services over GitLab. The customer support is also good with a really active community. You have a lot of support that you can get online with your stack. That is probably one of the benefits of using GitLab. It's also really fast."

"The initial setup of GitLab is pretty simple, with no complications."

"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."

"It streamlines our DevOps processes with automated CI/CD pipelines."

"It is a speedy platform compared to the others I have used. I have also enjoyed using the platform as this solution offers a good user experience."

"It scales well."

More GitLab pros

Cons

"GitHub CoPilot's stability is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"Sometimes it requires multiple iterations to get the code I need, like for creating a login page with specific buttons and logic."

"In a few cases, the results aren't correct, so that needs improvement. Also, it would be great if the results could be presented in different formats, not just text. As engineers, it takes time to read through text-based results."

"It would be useful if we could use the solution to create documents, not only prompts."

"Sometimes, if it is a bigger piece of code, it breaks in between."

"The limitation is based on the training dataset and the number of repositories."

"They could improve the product in terms of integration with other tools."

"They could enhance the product's accuracy of suggestions, especially when dealing with non-standard or legacy code."

More GitHub CoPilot cons

"Some of the scripts that we encountered in GitLab were not fully functional and threw up errors."

"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 doesn't have AWS integration. It would be better to have integration with other container management environments beyond Kubernetes. It has very good integration with Kubernetes, but it doesn't have good integration with, for example, AWS, ETS, etc."

"There is room for improvement in GitLab Agents."

"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."

"We'd like to see better integration with the Atlassian ecosystem."

"Atlassian offers more products than GitLab. GitLab offers source control management, version control and collaboration between developers. Atlassian offers features on top of this as well as more integration points for developers."

"The price of GitLab could improve, it is high."

More GitLab cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"A personal license is priced at ten dollars per month, while a professional or enterprise license costs nineteen dollars per user, and these rates are consistent for all users."

"The product has a tiered pricing model that starts with a free version for individual developers but requires a separate license fee for enterprise use."

"GitHub CoPilot's pricing is reasonable. Our licensing costs were initially monthly, but then we switched to yearly payments. I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."

"The pricing for GitHub Copilot is around ten dollars per month."

"It's affordable."

"The pricing is reasonable. I think it is 10 USD per user."

"We have a license but need another one for the GitHub CoPilot tool."

"There is a need to pay around 10 USD to be able to use the solution."

More GitHub CoPilot pricing and cost advice

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

"The solution is free."

"It seems reasonable. Our IT team manages the licenses."

"We are using its free version, and we are evaluating its Premium version. Its Ultimate version is very expensive."

"The solution's standard license is paid annually. They have changed the pricing model and it used to be better. There is a free version available."

"Regarding pricing, I would rate GitLab as moderately priced, maybe around a seven or eight out of ten. It could be more flexible for clients but generally offers good value."

"We are using the free version of GitLab."

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

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

10%

Healthcare Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

29%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitHub CoPilot?

The product is easy to integrate.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub CoPilot?

The pricing for GitHub Copilot is around $10 per month. While it offers significant productivity gains, lowering the price to $5 could encourage more users. If the price were lower, it might be mor...

What needs improvement with GitHub CoPilot?

In terms of understanding user queries and providing code that aligns with my expectations, there is room for improvement. Sometimes it requires multiple iterations to get the code I need, like for...

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...

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Product Reports

Download GitHub CoPilot product report

GitHub CoPilot

January 2025

Download GitLab product report

January 2025

Also Known As

No data available

Fuzzit

Learn More

GitHub

Overview

GitHub CoPilot accelerates developer productivity with code generation, test case creation, and code explanation. It provides context-aware suggestions, integrates with popular IDEs, and supports multiple languages.

GitHub CoPilot significantly boosts development efficiency by reducing coding and debugging time. Its user-friendly auto-complete and variable detection features streamline complex tasks, serving as a learning tool for developers. Areas needing improvement include its accuracy, stability, and broader integration with IDEs and languages. Users find the pricing strategy expensive and wish for enhanced contextual understanding, diverse result formats, and image support. Expanded functionality and better integration in highly regulated environments are important for future growth.

What are the most valued features of GitHub CoPilot?

Code Generation: Accelerates coding with smart suggestions.
Test Case Creation: Streamlines automated testing.
Code Explanation: Offers detailed insights into code segments.
Context-Aware Suggestions: Provides personalized assistance.
Multi-Language Support: Enhances versatility across programming languages.

Which benefits should users look for in reviews?

Increased Efficiency: Reduces time spent on coding tasks.
Enhanced Productivity: Speeds up the development process.
Learning Aid: Aids developers in understanding and creating complex code.
Task Automation: Facilitates automating repetitive coding tasks.

Utilized across industries to enhance application development and productivity, GitHub CoPilot assists in generating code snippets, writing code skeletons, analyzing documents, and automating workflows. It supports coding best practices, prompt engineering, and natural language processing. Developers leverage its capabilities for creating meeting summaries, report recommendations, and content ideas, thereby optimizing workflow efficiency.

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

Information Not Available

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