GitHub vs GitLab comparison

GitHub and GitLab are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. GitHub is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.9, while GitLab is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.6. GitHub holds a 0.8% mindshare in AS, compared to GitLab’s 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of GitHub users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of GitLab users who would recommend it.

GitHub

Read 93 GitHub reviews

2,518 Views
1,112 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

GitLab

Read 82 GitLab reviews

3,648 Views
3,011 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

GitHub

GitLab

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

GitHub and GitLab are prominent competitors in the repository hosting services category. GitHub has the upper hand with its superior security features, code management, and an extensive ecosystem of integrations, while GitLab shines through its comprehensive CI/CD capabilities and DevOps integrations, making it ideal for enterprises.

Features: GitHub is known for its strong security features, robust code management, and seamless integration with various development tools. Its ease of use for code review and branching is highly appreciated. GitLab, on the other hand, stands out with its extensive CI/CD capabilities, comprehensive DevOps platform, and enhanced merge request functionalities that support effective collaboration.

Room for Improvement: GitHub could improve its DevOps integrations, streamline the handling of large files, and enhance support for users unfamiliar with its platform. Additionally, advanced project management features and enhanced security would bolster its appeal. GitLab should work on expanding third-party integrations, improving user-friendliness, and addressing performance issues in complex setups and large repositories. Improvements in onboarding and merging processes could also enhance its usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitHub is primarily deployed in Public Cloud environments, with some On-premises and Hybrid Cloud instances. GitLab offers more flexible deployment options, including Public, Private, Hybrid Cloud, and On-premises setups. In terms of customer service, both platforms provide community support, with GitHub generally offering more consistent and responsive assistance compared to the sometimes inconsistent support from GitLab.

Pricing and ROI: GitHub provides free access for open-source projects along with tiered subscription options, often deemed cost-effective. Users report good ROI due to the platform's wide feature set and integration possibilities. GitLab, offering both free and paid tiers, tends to be more expensive, especially for smaller teams, though the all-in-one DevOps solution justifies the cost for larger enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed GitHub vs. GitLab Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GitHub vs. GitLab

April 2025

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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

GitHub

Ranking in Application Security Tools

6th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Version Control (3rd)

GitLab

Ranking in Application Security Tools

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Build Automation (1st), 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 April 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of GitHub is 0.8%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 3.0%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Pervez Roy

Solutions Architect at Small Systems LTD

Very good for collaboration on software projects

We use GitHub for code repository alongside Bitbucket GitHub is very good for collaboration on software projects. We prefer Bitbucket for commercial use, while GitHub is used for open source. You can get the differences, history of changes, and version control for various pull requests. You can…

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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 product helps our team collaborate across different locations."

"The control is the most valuable feature as developers can work on a single code."

"The solution can scale."

"GitHub provides enough storage for uploading the source code."

"The best feature is the ability to track the history of all code changes, and it's easy to use. Additionally, as it's open source, anyone can use that feature resulting in distributed development. This opens the door to collaboration with different code and developer, feature, and master branches of development."

"GitHub has improved the productivity of my team by simplifying code merging and enabling effective branching strategies."

"I find GitHub's pull request strategies and GitHub Actions to be very valuable."

"The ease of the planning board feature in GitHub is very valuable."

More GitHub pros

"It's a great toolbox where the CI/CD pipeline is the fundamental component, but there are so many other features that you can pull from, which makes it a very powerful tool. My current client is using AWS, and they can, of course, use AWS CodePipeline, but GitLab is much more mature than that, and it also gives you the freedom to decide to go to another platform or have a multi-cloud strategy and things like that. That freedom for me is also very valuable."

"The most important features of GitLab for us are issue management and all the CI/CD tools. Another aspect that I love about GitLab is the UI."

"CI/CD is very good. The version control system is also good. These are the two features that we use."

"We like that we can create branches and then the branches can be reviewed and you can mesh those branches back. You can independently work with your own branch, you don't need to really control the core of other people."

"GitLab's source control is excellent."

"GitLab is a solution for source code management, container registry, pipelines, testing, and deployment."

"Of all available products, it was the easiest to use and easy to install."

"GitLab is kind of an image of GitHub, so it gives us the flexibility to monitor our changes in the repos."

More GitLab pros

Cons

"The sign in process is a bit difficult. Signing up was challenging at that time."

"The initial setup and implementation could be easier, I had some difficulties with it at first but I don't have a development background."

"GitHub's issue management could be improved a little from an organization standpoint. It would be helpful to have the ability to organize a work board or a backlog more comprehensively. For organizations migrating to GitHub from arbitrary systems, it's a little bit of a headache to move on to that system."

"The solution should have less integration with the AI part, but it needs to add features with other automation tools so that it can be easily integrated."

"There can be conflict issues when two developers work on the same file or line of code, and it would be great to see that improved, possibly with an AI solution."

"I think it would be valuable to have more security. Some of the data is very open to everyone."

"The initial setup requires heavy documentation which can be challenging for new developers."

"The GUI design is poor, so I exclusively use the CLI, which is much easier to use and understand. It would be great to see the GUI updated to be more user-friendly."

More GitHub cons

"There are some challenges with repository file management as GitLab may struggle to manage larger files."

"The integration and storage capabilities could be better."

"The pricing model of GitLab is an issue for me."

"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."

"It can be free for commercial use."

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

"Even if I say I want some improvement, they will say it is already planned in the first quarter, second quarter, or third quarter. That said, most everything is quite improved already, and they're improving even further still."

"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."

More GitLab cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am using the free version of the solution. However, there are some costs my organization pays."

"GitHub is an open-source application. It's free to use."

"The tool offers a free program. As you go, you can upgrade from the community version to the professional one. I believe it costs about ten dollars per person, per month."

"Regarding pricing, I'd rate it eight out of ten. It's decent and not too expensive, and small businesses can also afford it. With AWS taking CodeCommit out of the market, I don't see many competitors for small companies in terms of GitHub."

"The product is reasonably priced."

"If I consider the market standards, the product's price is pocket-friendly."

"The licensing model from GitHub is very clear."

"It is open-source. There is no license for GitHub."

More GitHub pricing and cost advice

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

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

"I'm not sure if they have some kind of discount. I've been negotiating with them on prices before, and I believe they weren't too happy to give discounts, but list prices are $19 per user, per month for Premium and $99 per user, per month for Ultimate. So, the difference between Premium and Ultimate is a bit bigger, and in most companies, you need to build some type of business case."

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

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

"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."

"GitLab is an open-source solution."

"GitLab is cheap."

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

University

Educational Organization

25%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitHub?

The control is the most valuable feature as developers can work on a single code.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub?

The pricing of GitHub depends on the choice of solutions, such as building one's own GitHub Runners to save money or using GitHub's Runners with extra costs. The pricing is considered reasonable an...

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What needs improvement with GitHub?

There are still areas for improvement with GitHub Actions and their deployment workflows, as they have made significant progress but are not yet polished. Occasionally, stability can be an issue, t...

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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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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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Comparisons

Bitbucket vs GitHub

Compared 17% of the time

Fortify on Demand vs GitHub

Compared 15% of the time

Snyk vs GitHub

Compared 13% of the time

AWS CodeCommit vs GitHub

Compared 10% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs GitHub

Compared 3% of the time

More GitHub Competitors

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs GitLab

Compared 28% of the time

GitHub CoPilot vs GitLab

Compared 13% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs GitLab

Compared 8% of the time

AWS CodePipeline vs GitLab

Compared 6% of the time

Tekton vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

More GitLab Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitHub

April 2025

Download GitHub product report

Buyer's Guide

GitLab

April 2025

Download GitLab product report

Also Known As

No data available

Fuzzit

Overview

GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service. It offers all of the distributed revision control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features. Unlike Git, which is strictly a command-line tool, GitHub provides a Web-based graphical interface and desktop as well as mobile integration. It also provides access control and several collaboration features such as bug tracking, feature requests, task management, and wikis for every project.

GitHub

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.

GitLab

Sample Customers

Dominion Enterprises, NASA, Braintree, SAP, CyberAgent

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

Buyer's Guide

GitHub vs. GitLab

April 2025

Free Report: GitHub vs. GitLab

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