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GitHub vs GitLab comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

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
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
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (8th), 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 February 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 2.9%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Pervez Roy - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Gaurav Chandel - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's initial setup phase is easy but it is always good to connect with GitHub's team that manages APIs."
"I appreciate saving from Visual Studio Code that implements changes directly on GitHub."
"I recommend using GitHub because it is reliable and helpful for developers."
"The most valuable features of GitHub are the ease of integration into Microsoft Azure DevOps. The process that you need to deploy into Microsoft Azure becomes fairly simple and the templates are already available, a lot of the engineers find it easier to use."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"GitHub provides enough storage for uploading the source code."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the version control field."
"It is really simple to set up."
"A user friendly solution."
"The important feature is the entire process of versioning source code maintenance and easy deployment. It is a necessity for the CI/CD pipeline."
"GitLab is kind of an image of GitHub, so it gives us the flexibility to monitor our changes in the repos."
"The solution makes the CI/CD pipelines easy to execute."
"It speeds up our development, it's faster, safer, and more convenient."
"The most valuable functionality of GitLab, for me, is the DevOps. Besides the normal source control based on Git, I find the Auto DevOps features most important in the solution."
"GitLab's best features are continuous integration and fast deployment."
"GitLab's best feature is Actions."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in terms of interface."
"The solution's cost is high and should be reduced."
"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."
"GitHub could expand the limits of the free version."
"GitHub could improve by being more user-friendly."
"There could be more integration into Azure."
"We want to incorporate management comments within GitHub, making it more like a product management tool. We haven't done that yet. Another change we're considering is migrating from GitHub to Azure DevOps, especially now that Microsoft has introduced it."
"The storage for this solution could be improved."
"I believe there's room for improvement in the advanced features, particularly in enhancing the pipeline functionalities."
"We are having a few problems integrating with Jira at the moment, which is something that our IT department is investigating."
"The solution should be more cloud-native and have more cloud-native capabilities and features."
"The licensing model could be improved to be more accommodating in terms of user numbers and costs."
"The documentation could be improved to help newcomers better understand things like creating new branches."
"Perhaps the integration could be better."
"Merge conflicts and repository maintenance could improve. If there is someone new to the system they would not know if there is a conflict."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have an enterprise licensing agreement, and I am not part of the finance department so I can't say how much it costs."
"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."
"It's cheaper than Bitbucket."
"My company purchased it. Before, we used to receive the free version, but then they purchased some of the features."
"If there are only 10 people using a particular repository, then GitHub is free. But if we increase the number of users, we need to pay the normal charge for GitHub."
"I use the free version of GitHub."
"It is open-source. There is no license for GitHub."
"I use the free version of the tool."
"I don't mind the price because I use the free version."
"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."
"It is very expensive. We can't bear it now, and we have to find another solution. We have a yearly subscription in which we can increase the number of licenses, but we have to pay at the end of the year."
"There are different licensing options available, including a free limited-user license."
"The open-source version is very good and the commercial version is reasonably priced."
"GitLab is comparatively expensive, but it provides value because it's feature-rich."
"The price of GitLab could be better, it is expensive."
"GitLab's pricing is good compared to others on the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
29%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
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?
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Fuzzit
 

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: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.