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GitHub vs GitLab comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 29, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

GitHub
Ranking in Application Security Tools
7th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Version Control (3rd)
GitLab
Ranking in Application Security Tools
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (10th), Rapid Application Development Software (13th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of GitHub is 0.8%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 3.0%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

AjayKrishna - PeerSpot reviewer
Reduces project delivery times and costs
I think one area where GitHub could improve is its search and navigation functionality within repositories. For example, we use IDEs like IntelliJ or Visual Studio Code when developing code. These IDEs allow us to easily navigate from one piece of code to another file where a method is being called. It would be really helpful if the solution could add this navigation feature. It would allow us to move from one class file to another more easily, helping us search quicker and follow the code flow completely within GitHub. This would be more convenient than having to import the code into our local IDE to look at the code flow and navigate through it. Adding this kind of IDE-like navigation within the tool would make the user experience more seamless and efficient.
Corné den Hollander - PeerSpot reviewer
Powerful, mature, and easy to set up and manage
It's more related to the supporting layer of features, such as issue management and issue tracking. We tend to always use, for example, Jira next to it. That doesn't mean that GitLab should build something similar to Jira because that will always have its place, but they could grow a bit in those kinds of supporting features. I see some, for example, covering ITSM on a DevOps team level, and that's one of the things that I and my current client would find really helpful. It's understandably not going to be their main focus and their core, and whenever you are with a company that needs a bit more advanced features on that specific topic, you're probably still going to integrate with another tool like Jira Service Management, for example. However, some basic features on things like that could be really helpful. In terms of additional features, nothing comes to mind. One of the potential pitfalls is to keep adding new features and functionalities. They can just improve some of the existing features to make it high-end, top-quality. I don't have any substantial experience with agile planning. I don't know the industries GitLab is in, and I don't know why they make decisions like this, but as a customer, I would rather see them invest in improving the basic agile planning functionalities rather than adding, for example, portfolio planning features. That's because if I'm going to do portfolio planning, I probably will also need a lot of business users. I'm not sure if I want them in GitLab, I'd rather have them in Jira collaborating with me on portfolio planning. That's way better fitted for that type of work.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I use this solution to store my code in a repository so we can manage version control which is useful."
"It provides Draft Pull Requests for review purposes without needing immediate merging and GitHub Actions for CI/CD implementation."
"You can get the differences, history of changes, and version control for various pull requests."
"I appreciate saving from Visual Studio Code that implements changes directly on GitHub."
"The most valuable feature is help offered by the community for open-source projects."
"I like the CI/CD features."
"The control is the most valuable feature as developers can work on a single code."
"Has great integration with third-party tools."
"GitLab's source control is excellent."
"It is scalable."
"The CI/CD process is very efficient."
"I recommend GitLab for DevOps engineers."
"They incorporate new features every September, and they have introduced their own code editor and AI features."
"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."
"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."
"GitLab has better support, and its features are superior compared to Jenkins."
 

Cons

"The development team pushes the code into a repository, and the CI/CD pipeline will perform the build. We need open-source libraries to perform the builds. It would be helpful to have the ability to link to open-source libraries like npm libraries. I don't know if GitHub Actions provides this. I would like to see that in GitHub Actions if they don't."
"From the recruiting standpoint, I would like to see email IDs and phone numbers and a brief introduction about their profile."
"While using the solution when merging two code branches the code becomes a bit messy. This should be improved in the future."
"Regarding improvements, I preferred the tool's earlier pricing model, which limited storage and the number of repositories instead of the number of users, which was more convenient from a customer perspective. I've also experienced issues with GitHub servers being unable to support moving repositories, which caused problems. For basic plans, no support was available to help resolve these issues. I think GitHub should provide more support for smaller businesses to help with these problems."
"The solution's cost is high and should be reduced."
"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."
"GitHub could add some more security features."
"Could be more user friendly."
"It has fewer options, and its UI is not so user-friendly."
"The initial setup was quite challenging because it takes some time to understand how to pull out or push the code."
"The solution does not have many built-in functions or variables so scripting is required."
"GitLab should enhance its GitOps capability as they are currently using FluxCD, however, Argo CD is better and offers more features. GitLab should work on improving their user interface for GitOps as it is lagging behind."
"It can be free for commercial use."
"I'm new to GitLab, so I would appreciate more documentation about the code and commands."
"There is a need to improve or adopt AI into the ecosystem like a co-pilot, which Microsoft has done with GitHub."
"There is room for improvement in GitLab Agents."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model from GitHub is very clear."
"There are no licensing fees for the features that we use."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"It's cheaper than Bitbucket."
"GitHub is a cost-effective solution."
"I use the free version of GitHub."
"The private repositories are free, which is very good."
"The basic licensing model is free, and if you need to have technical support and such things, then it does cost something. You only need to pay extra if you need technical support."
"We are using the open-source version."
"We are using the free version of GitLab."
"In total, I believe we have more than 300 licenses spread over about 100 users, though I can't comment on the costs involved."
"GitLab is a free solution to use."
"This is an open-source solution."
"GitLab's pricing is good compared to others on the market."
"I'm not aware of the licensing costs because those were covered by the customer."
"My company uses the free version of GitLab, which is GitLab Community Edition. There is a licensed version also available for GitLab."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
7%
Educational Organization
29%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub?
I'm not aware of the costs associated with GitHub. I simply appreciate its efficiency in managing code and collaborating with team members.
What needs improvement with GitHub?
I would like to see some AI functionality included in GitHub, similar to the features seen in GitLab, to enhance productivity. Additionally, offering limited free access to features like Copilot co...
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?
GitLab is mostly free, with potential costs arising from upgrade versions. There is a trial period of about six months during which it is free. Afterward, fees apply.
What needs improvement with GitLab?
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

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Fuzzit
 

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Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about GitHub vs. GitLab and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.