GitLab vs Octopus Deploy comparison

GitLab and Octopus Deploy are both solutions in the Release Automation category. GitLab is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Octopus Deploy is ranked #13. GitLab holds a 33.9% mindshare in RA, compared to Octopus Deploy’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of GitLab users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Octopus Deploy users who would recommend it.

GitLab

Read 82 GitLab reviews

10,944 Views
8,958 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Octopus Deploy

Read 3 Octopus Deploy reviews

987 Views
611 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

GitLab

Octopus Deploy

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

GitLab and Octopus Deploy are focused on different stages in the DevOps lifecycle, with GitLab emphasizing collaborative development and Octopus Deploy targeting deployment automation. GitLab often has the advantage due to its comprehensive collaboration features and integration capabilities, while Octopus Deploy is favored for its specialized deployment management.

Features: GitLab offers version control, CI/CD integration, and project management tools, making it versatile for developers in search of an all-encompassing platform. Octopus Deploy provides deployment automation, advanced release management, and seamless environment configurations, essential for intricate deployments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab provides a user-friendly deployment model with integrated customer support, ensuring a simple user experience. Octopus Deploy addresses the needs of enterprises with complex environments through robust deployment tools and responsive support, enhancing the deployment phase.

Pricing and ROI: GitLab has a competitive pricing structure, making it a cost-effective choice given its expansive features. Octopus Deploy's pricing matches its specialization in deployment, offering valuable returns on investment where advanced release management is prioritized.

To learn more, read our detailed GitLab vs. Octopus Deploy Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Octopus Deploy

March 2025

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Helped 842,767 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

GitLab

Ranking in Release Automation

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (9th), Build Automation (1st), 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)

Octopus Deploy

Ranking in Release Automation

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Release Automation category, the mindshare of GitLab is 33.9%, up from 33.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Octopus Deploy is 2.2%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Release Automation

Featured Reviews

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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AbhishekSingh11

Infrastructure Solutions Architect at a real estate/law firm with 10,001+ employees

Easy to set up with intuitive UI and good reliability

I haven't used support. Since it is on-prem, our tech support would manage to troubleshoot. There might have been instances where there have been some issues with the on-prem version that I don't know of. Our tech support may have touched base with the. However, I don't have that level of visibility.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I have had no problem with the stability of the solution."

"Git hosting has an integration with ACD which is why we liked this solution in the first place."

"Continuous integration with deployment is very powerful, which is a significant reason for migrating from TFS to GitLab."

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

"It is very useful for reviews. We are using branch merging operations and full reset operations. It is also very useful for merging our code and tracking another branch. The graph diagrams of Git are very useful. Its interface is straightforward and not too complex for us."

"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."

"It speeds up our development, it's faster, safer, and more convenient."

"The tool helps to integrate CI/CD pipeline deployments. It is very easy to learn. Its security model is good."

More GitLab pros

"The rollback feature has been most valuable. We can write scripts from scratch. Octopus maintains an independent package for every deployment."

"The UI is very intuitive."

"Deployment is valuable. It deploys well."

Cons

"The only thing our company is really waiting on in terms of features is the development of metrics."

"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."

"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 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."

"I would like to see AI support in GitLab."

"The initial setup was quite challenging because it takes some time to understand how to pull out or push the code."

"I've noticed an area for improvement in GitLab, particularly needing to go through many steps to push the code to the repository. Resolving that issue would make the product better. My team quickly fixed it by writing a small script, then double-clicking or enabling the script to take care of the issue. However, that quick fix was from my team and not the GitLab team, so in the next release, if an automatic deployment feature would be available in GitLab, then that would be good because, in Visual Studio, you can do that with just one click of a button."

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

More GitLab cons

"This solution could be improved by making it easier to divide variables in YAML file or JSON files."

"There could be scope for more integration with other platforms."

"You've got to jump through a few hoops to get some things configured, but if set up, you can do so many different things in it. So, there is complexity."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"We are currently using the open-source version."

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

"GitLab is a free solution to use."

"The open-source version is very good and the commercial version is reasonably priced."

"This is an open-source solution."

"We are using the open-source version."

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

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

"I don't know the exact cost, but it's not exorbitant. It may be a couple of thousand dollars a year or something like that. I'm not sure, but it's reasonable. We get value for money out of it."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

26%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

42%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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.

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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

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs GitLab

Compared 29% 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

Spinnaker vs Octopus Deploy

Compared 24% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Octopus Deploy

Compared 22% of the time

UrbanCode Deploy vs Octopus Deploy

Compared 21% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Octopus Deploy

Compared 18% of the time

AWS CodeDeploy vs Octopus Deploy

Compared 14% of the time

More Octopus Deploy Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitLab

March 2025

Download GitLab product report

Buyer's Guide

Release Automation

March 2025

Download Octopus Deploy product report

Also Known As

Fuzzit

No data available

Overview

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

Octopus Deploy is the most popular deployment automation tool in the world. Our software is used by teams to deploy .NET, Java, Node, and database applications, to hundreds and thousands of servers in the cloud and on-premises.

Octopus Deploy

Sample Customers

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

Microsoft, NASA, Cisco, Domain, HP, Symantec, 3M, Philips

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Octopus Deploy

March 2025

Free Report: GitLab vs. Octopus Deploy

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