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reviewer1430709 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a real estate/law firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable and useful for pipelines, but needs better pricing and better integration with Kubernetes
Pros and Cons
  • "GitLab is very useful for pipelines, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. It is also stable."
  • "Based on what I know so far, its integration with Kubernetes is not so good. We have to develop many things to make it work. We have to acquire third-party components to work with Kubernetes."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for pipelines, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. 

In terms of deployment, it can be a cloud solution, but we have installed it on our site on Azure.

What is most valuable?

GitLab is very useful for pipelines, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. It is also stable.

What needs improvement?

Its price should be improved. It is very expensive.

Based on what I know so far, its integration with Kubernetes is not so good. We have to develop many things to make it work. We have to acquire third-party components to work with Kubernetes. 

From the DevOps perspective, the way we deploy applications is too complicated. It needs to be simplified. It is very development-oriented, and it works very well for DevOps, but when you are at the group level, you want it to be simple and more oriented towards the process. The automation process to deploy is not a very good part of GitLab.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three or four years.

Buyer's Guide
GitLab
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about GitLab. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
823,875 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is fine. We have 200 developers in our organization. 

How are customer service and support?

We have been doing okay on our own. We are able to find support inside our company.

How was the initial setup?

Its initial setup is okay. We did the installation in three months, but it was very slow and complicated to develop the continuous deployment during these three years for each application. We had to develop pipelines for multiple development languages.

We are quite well organized now, but it took a long time to think about which pipeline to use with GitLab. We now have five pipelines. We have the infrastructure pipeline, the middleware pipeline, the image pipeline, the security pipeline, and the application pipeline.

We have a team of 10 people for its deployment. They are admins and managers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are using the Azure Cloud solution, and we are thinking of trying the Azure DevOps solution this year. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others. The product is fine, but you have to do the integration with different pipelines.

I would rate GitLab a seven out of 10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Cloud Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Good interface, stable, and useful for merge operations and reviews
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "It can be free for commercial use."

What is our primary use case?

We are providing solutions for consumer electronics. We have a repository of our code between the device team, mobile applications team, and cloud team.

How has it helped my organization?


What is most valuable?

It is very useful for code reviews and merging operations. Review analytics is available to users with reporter access and displays a table of open merge requests. Many merge requests can be added to the train. Each merge request runs its own merged results pipeline, which includes the changes from all of the other merge requests. If the pipeline for a merge request fails, the breaking changes are not merged, and the target branch is unaffected. It is very useful for merging our code and tracking another branch before giving release. Its interface is straightforward to see all process.

What needs improvement?

It can be free for commercial use of project management and code integrity features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using git solutions for almost two years. We are new for GitLab.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are a small team. Almost 60 people are working on the same repo. It works for us currently, and we don't need to scale it.

How are customer service and technical support?

For any technical issues, we have our infrastructure team. They have some experience with this product. Currently, we don't create any tickets for technical operations.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Subversion. GitLab is a little bit more complex than Subversion, but it is okay for me.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy.

What about the implementation team?

We have an IT department for infrastructure operations, and they are managing this solution for us.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It seems reasonable. Our IT team manages the licenses.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise others to follow best practices because they are useful for each case. If you have a problem, it can be easily solved by other people if you follow the best practices.

I would rate GitLab a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
GitLab
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about GitLab. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
823,875 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Co Founder and Technical Architect at Think NYX Technologies LLP
Reseller
Impressive SaaS setup and good for infrastructure, architect and environmental management
Pros and Cons
  • "The SaaS setup is impressive, and it has DAST solutioning."
  • "Their RBAC is role-based access, which is fine but not very good."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use this solution for end-to-end CI/CD solutioning and deployment as well as infrastructure, architect and environmental management. In addition, we plan to use it for version control and SaaS solutioning and have heard it is great.

What is most valuable?

The SaaS setup is impressive, and it has DAST solutioning. It also has dependency check and scanning mechanisms. If we were using other solutions, they would have to be configured, and we would have to set them us as a third party, but GitLab is straightforward. GitLab is a single solution that helps us do everything we need.

What needs improvement?

The documentation in GitLab could be improved a bit. For example, their RBAC is role-based access, which is fine but not very good. It could also be improved a lot.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for almost seven years. We are currently using version 15.2.1. We are using GitLab Cloud, and it is a public setup.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution, and we have not experienced any challenges.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable, but we need to pay extra costs.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good, but it is available with paid solutions only. So we have to rely on their documentation or wait for community updates for the free tier or vendor solution.

How was the initial setup?

It is a cloud solution, so we didn't have to do much. We just needed to create an account, and the solution was ready. It is gitlab.com.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution an eight out of ten because it is a good tool.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
BalakrishnanS - PeerSpot reviewer
Engeener at Dell EMC
Real User
Easy to manage, reliable, good automation, and has good support
Pros and Cons
  • "GitLab integrates well with other platforms."
  • "It should be used by a larger number of people. They should raise awareness."

What is our primary use case?

GitLab is used for pipeline development, automation, and deployment.

What is most valuable?

It is easy to manage.

GitLab integrates well with other platforms.

The automation is good.

What needs improvement?

While I don't have any specific complaints about GitLab, there are always things that could be better.

Better support, for example, could be provided. The technology could be made simpler to use, it should not be overly complex.

It should be used by a larger number of people. They should raise awareness.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with GitLab for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

GitLab has a good level of stability. I haven't had many problems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

GitLab is used by between 500 and 600 people.

How are customer service and support?

Support is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used a variety of tools, including Ansible, Terraform, Bitbucket, and Bamboo.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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

The licensing fee could be less expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to anyone who is interested in using it.

GitLab is very good. I would rate GitLab a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Solution Manager at PCCW
Real User
Reliable, with solid features, would love to see a feature for peer reviews
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found the most valuable feature is security control. I also like the branching and cloning software."
  • "I would like to have some features to support peer review."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for source management.

What is most valuable?

I have found the most valuable feature is security control. I also like the branching and cloning software.

What needs improvement?

I would like to have some features to support peer review. It would be nice if I can input some comments and share them with the teams. But I am not sure if it is already included in some paid versions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with GitLab now for the past three or four years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the current solution I would rate as a nine on a scale of one to ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability on a scale of one to ten is around an eight or nine. We currently have around one hundred individuals using this solution on a daily basis.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are currently using the open-source version.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend using GitLab and rank it a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Udaysimha Nerella - PeerSpot reviewer
Specialist Data Analysis vehicle safety at Cubeware
Real User
Scalable, stable, and has a straightforward setup, but requires a lot of steps just to push code to the repository
Pros and Cons
  • "We're only using the basic features of GitLab and haven't used any advanced features. The solution works fine, so that's what we like about GitLab. We're party using GitHub and GitLab. We have a GitHub server, while we use GitLab locally or only within our team, and it works okay. We don't have any significant problems with the solution. We also found the straightforward setup, stability, and scalability of GitLab valuable."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

My team primarily uses GitLab for CI/CD purposes. Whatever code I develop has to go with the team, so I work in a team that tries to write its version of the code, or uses the ticketing system, takes a ticket, covers that information, and then updates the main branch about it. That's the use case my team has for GitLab.

What is most valuable?

We're only using the basic features of GitLab and haven't used any advanced features. The solution works fine, so that's what we like about GitLab. We're party using GitHub and GitLab. We have a GitHub server, while we use GitLab locally or only within our team, and it works okay. We don't have any significant problems with the solution.

We also found the straightforward setup, stability, and scalability of GitLab valuable.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using GitLab for almost four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As of now, we don't have any issues with GitLab stability-wise. We never faced any critical issues, so everything's going smoothly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

GitLab is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

We didn't use the technical support for GitLab because there are specific people within our organization that we can contact about issues, for example, access issues or permissions, and they give us access to the folders.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We haven't used any other build automation product other than GitLab.

How was the initial setup?

We found the initial setup for GitLab very straightforward. We're developers, so we develop the code, then push that code to our branch. We have a moderator who keeps track of the testing process, so from our side, we already have the steps and what needs to be done and written, so we follow those steps to set up GitLab.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation of GitLab was done in-house within my company.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

As I work in a vast enterprise, I'm unsure about the licensing cost for GitLab. It's the management team that takes care of that.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a developer, so I write all the code from scratch, but I don't use predefined platforms. I've been using GitLab and Visual Studio, though.

As GitLab is only used within my team, only five people use it.

My team uses GitLab almost every day, then when a project is complete, my team pushes it back into GitHub.

My team is an end-user of GitLab.

Regarding recommending GitLab to others, I'm a developer of data science solutions, so I mostly do end-user tasks rather than developer tasks. As of now, nothing was so bad about GitLab, and I didn't come across any significant hardships in using the solution. For a person like me who uses resources in a bigger enterprise, there shouldn't be problems using GitLab. If you're part of a small company, there could be some issues.

My rating for GitLab is seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Alexandru Zeevleanu - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Team Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Beneficial YAML plans, reliable, and low maintenance
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of GitLab are the review, patch repo, and plans are in YAML."
  • "GitLab could improve the patch repository. It does not have support for Conan patch version regions. Additionally, better support for Kubernetes deployment is needed as part of the package."

What is our primary use case?

We use GitLab as a source code repository, terraform modules repository, generic packages repository and for our CI/CD pipelines.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of GitLab are the merge request approvals, package repository, and that GitLab CI/CD pipelines plans are written in YAML.

What needs improvement?

GitLab could improve the package repository. It does not have support for Conan packages revisions.

Additionally, better support for deploying GitLab in Kubernetes is needed (i.e. more mature helm packages and updated documentation).

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using GitLab for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of GitLab is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

GitLab is scalable. We only needed to add more resources to the VM. Horizontally, we were not able to scale it because we couldn't deploy it in Kubernetes correctly.

We have approximately 300 people using the solution in my organization.

How are customer service and support?

I have not used the support from GitLab.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used Gerrit and I prefer GitLab. It is much better in the interface and integration, it is much more than only Git software, it is more of a complete package.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of GitLab is not complex. However, it can be difficult to deploy GitLab on Kubernetes.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment of GitLab was done in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution's standard license is paid annually. They have changed the pricing tiers and removed the bronze tier, which was the perfect sweet spot.
There is a free version available.

I rate the price of GitLab a seven out of 10.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend the solution to others. For a self-hosted version, I advise others to deploy it using Docker/Docker-compose, it is the easiest way. The solution has no maintenance. 

I rate GitLab a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Nor EL MALKI - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at Leyton & Associés, SAS
Real User
Highly intuitive UI, reliable, and good performance
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of GitLab are ease of use and highly intuitive UI and performance."
  • "GitLab can improve by integrating with more tools, such as servers with Docker."

What is our primary use case?

We use GitLab for all of our Git sources and it is mapped to our integrated solution for the complete ICG platform.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of GitLab are ease of use and highly intuitive UI and performance.

What needs improvement?

GitLab can improve by integrating with more tools, such as servers with Docker.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using GitLab for approximately 11 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

GitLab is a stable solution. We've never faced any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our current setup is with one server but GitLab overall can scale.

We have approximately 300 people using the solution. Most of the people are in the developers' teams, management, and tech leads that all log into GitLab.

GitLab can be used for enterprise-sized companies.

How are customer service and support?

I have not used the support from GitLab.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used GitHub as a developer. GitLab looks similar to GitHub and it's helping the developer use it better.

What about the implementation team?

We update the GitLab version annually for maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

GitLab is a free solution to use.

What other advice do I have?

I rate GitLab a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free GitLab Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free GitLab Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.