AWS CodeBuild vs GitLab comparison

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AWS CodeBuild

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

GitLab and AWS CodeBuild are strong competitors in the CI/CD and source code management field. GitLab seems to have the upper hand with a comprehensive feature set that caters to larger enterprises demanding seamless pipeline management and versatile code reviews, while AWS CodeBuild is favored for its simple integration within the AWS ecosystem, offering cost-effective serverless build solutions.

Features: GitLab offers seamless CI/CD pipeline management, robust code review, and extensive repository management capabilities, which are well-suited for teams requiring structured control and peer code scrutiny. AWS CodeBuild, on the other hand, excels in its integration with AWS services, providing a scalable, serverless building environment and effective platform support for varied coding languages and builds.

Room for Improvement: GitLab needs to enhance its AWS integration to compete with other cloud services, improve third-party integration, and expand reporting capabilities to support project management. AWS CodeBuild users highlight the need for improved documentation, easier troubleshooting, and enhanced UI and workflow management to address complexity and environmental setups.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab is flexible, offering both on-premises and cloud deployment, supported by a strong open-source community, though some users feel limited support without a paid plan. AWS CodeBuild provides ease of deployment for companies using AWS, benefiting from AWS's broad support infrastructure but relying on community and internal knowledge for problem-solving.

Pricing and ROI: GitLab has various pricing tiers that cater to different business sizes and needs, but its higher cost tiers can be challenging for smaller teams. In contrast, AWS CodeBuild's pricing based on compute resources is considered cost-effective, particularly for serverless operations. Both platforms deliver a strong ROI by streamlining automation and reducing deployment times, with GitLab's full feature set often justifying its price for enterprises, while AWS CodeBuild provides a more budget-friendly solution for those within the AWS environment.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS CodeBuild vs. GitLab Report (Updated: September 2025).

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AWS CodeBuild vs. GitLab

September 2025

Helped 872,706 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

AWS CodeBuild

Ranking in Build Automation

9th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GitLab

Ranking in Build Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (11th), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (11th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (3rd), DevSecOps (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of AWS CodeBuild is 1.7%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 12.2%, down from 17.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
GitLab	12.2%
AWS CodeBuild	1.7%
Other	86.1%

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

Mahadev Metre

DevOps Engineer at Paydoh

Integration with diverse environments boosts productivity and automation

AWS CodeBuild's support for a wide range of programming languages and build environments benefits development teams significantly in terms of productivity and ease of use. There are extensive libraries of code structures available, making it a universal pipeline. All programming languages I have worked with are supported in AWS CodeBuild, eliminating the need for alternative deployment services. The service supports iOS builds, Kotlin, Java, NodeJS, and ReactJS. AWS has made it accessible to all languages, allowing developers to simply open the console and trigger builds. AWS manages all the background server operations for building or deploying code. For standard builds such as ReactJS or Java, a Linux or Ubuntu server suffices. AWS provides its own operating system for these purposes. For builds requiring physical servers, such as Apple macOS server, AWS rents Mac minis specifically for iOS and SwiftUI builds. While this incurs higher charges, it demonstrates AWS's commitment to providing comprehensive solutions for all use cases.

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Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven

Improved agility and time to market with CI/CD enhancements

The CI/CD pipelines in GitLab are highly valuable. Another important feature is the single source of repository, allowing efficient repository management and source code management. GitLab provides manageability by allowing us to manage source code effectively through separate repositories. Additionally, GitLab enables the creation of individual CI/CD pipelines for each repository, making software more agile. By integrating GitLab as a DevOps platform, we have enhanced agility, improved our time to market, and different teams can work collaboratively on various projects.

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

"A valuable feature is the support for third-party repositories such as Bitbucket, GitLab, or GitHub."

"The integration with other AWS services has streamlined our workflow."

"The initial setup of CodeBuild is easy."

"One of the main features I value in CodeBuild compared to previous experiences, like using Jenkins, is its ability to handle tasks automatically with AWS, requiring only proper setup of the check file."

"The integration is a good feature."

"The most important thing is that it's self-contained in an AWS account, and it's all linked to the customer's AWS account."

"The integration is a good feature."

"AWS CodeBuild reduces wait time and optimizes workflows."

More AWS CodeBuild pros

"Git merging allows us to track the details of how and who has done what; this is the best feature which is useful for all companies."

"CI/CD is valuable for me."

"The most valuable feature of GitLab is its convenience. I am able to trace back most of my changes up to a far distance in time and it helps me to analyze and see the older version of the code."

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

"In our software development lifecycle, GitLab is used as a component for code repository management. We use GitLab for several projects to handle code repositories. For other software projects, we use Bitbucket, but the use case for both is very similar."

"When a developer checks in code, it is automatically built and deployed, and automated test cases are also run. We have extensive integration with GitLab, which helps us with source code management. We run the static code analysis using SonarQube."

"The solution is stable."

"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."

More GitLab pros

Cons

"One of the main challenges is that if the environment is not set up properly, it will result in issues such as image errors."

"They can further improve the integration of the Bitbucket for CodeBuild."

"While working on building images for multiple applications within a single script, I encountered an issue where looping functionality was not supported as expected."

"The deployment fails sometimes."

"There have been times when CodeBuild has shown some instability, like bugs or breakdowns."

"There is no persistent storage or preservation of workspace between the builds."

"The front-end interface and the management are somewhat challenging, and there's a lot of space for improvement."

"Notifications could be added, or SNS integration could be included so that notifications can be received on every build, whether the build fails or succeeds."

More AWS CodeBuild cons

"The integration could be slightly better."

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

"This solution could be improved by adding modifications such as slack notifications."

"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."

"GitLab needs to improve the CI/CD functionality because it is not compatible with Jenkins and other tools, as it is not that efficient."

"As a partner, sometimes it's difficult to get support. They have a really complicated procedure for their support."

"We'd always like to see better pricing on the product."

"I would like to see better integration with project management tools such as Jira."

More GitLab cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay a monthly licensing fee."

"Despite the cost, it is worth the investment."

"AWS CodeBuild is free. We only pay for our code's compute resources during the build process. For example, if our code takes ten minutes to build, we only pay for those ten minutes of computing time. CodeDeploy and CodePipeline are free because they're serverless and don't require computing resources. CodeCommit has minimal costs for storing code."

"Regarding pricing, I would rate GitLab as moderately priced, maybe around a seven or eight out of ten. It could be more flexible for clients but generally offers good value."

"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."

"I'm not aware of the licensing costs because those were covered by the customer."

"The solution's pricing is acceptable."

"The solution is free."

"GitLab is highly priced for smaller teams, but it's okay if considering a user base of thousands."

"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."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a five out of ten."

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Media Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	35
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	42

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS CodeBuild?

It works seamlessly with AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR).

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CodeBuild?

The cost structure is affordable for most builds except macOS servers. Standard builds can utilize AWS EC2 servers for background operations. However, macOS or iOS builds require physical servers m...

What needs improvement with AWS CodeBuild?

The servers used for macOS and iOS builds are limited in availability, operating only in US East 1 and East 2, and US West 1 and West 2. This geographical limitation causes latency issues and exten...

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?

We are currently using general GitLab, not GitLab Premium.

What needs improvement with GitLab?

GitLab needs to improve the CI/CD functionality because it is not compatible with Jenkins and other tools, as it is not that efficient. Security-wise, we have security features enabled in GitLab fo...

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Compared 4% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs GitLab

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Download AWS CodeBuild product report

AWS CodeBuild

October 2025

Download GitLab product report

October 2025

Also Known As

CodeBuild

Fuzzit

Overview

AWS CodeBuild is a fully managed continuous integration service that compiles source code, runs tests, and produces software packages that are ready to deploy. With CodeBuild, you don’t need to provision, manage, and scale your own build servers. CodeBuild scales continuously and processes multiple builds concurrently, so your builds are not left waiting in a queue. You can get started quickly by using prepackaged build environments, or you can create custom build environments that use your own build tools. With CodeBuild, you are charged by the minute for the compute resources you use.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

GitLab offers a secure and user-friendly platform for CI/CD pipeline management, code repository control, and collaboration, enhancing development speed and efficiency. It facilitates automation with extensive customization and tool integration, ideal for DevOps processes.

GitLab supports source code management, version control, and collaborative development. It's frequently used in CI/CD processes to automate builds and deployments while integrating DevOps practices. GitLab allows companies to manage repositories, automate pipelines, conduct code reviews, and maintain development lifecycles. The platform supports infrastructure and configuration management, enabling efficient code collaboration, deployment automation, and comprehensive repository handling. Many organizations commit and deploy developed code using GitLab's capabilities.

What are GitLab's most valuable features?

CI/CD Pipeline Management: Streamlines development through automated testing and deployment.
User-Friendly Interface: Ensures ease of collaboration and task automation.
Code Merging and Branching: Facilitates smooth code integration and version control.
Security Platform: Provides strong security features for safe development.
Tool Integration: Enhances functionality with diverse tool integration.

What benefits should users evaluate?

Development Speed: Accelerates processes through automation.
Collaboration Ease: Simplifies team interactions and workflow.
Customization Options: Offers extensive personalization for specific needs.
Comprehensive Documentation: Provides detailed guidance for users.
Secure Platform: Maintains integrity with robust security features.

In specific industries, GitLab serves as a backbone for source code management and CI/CD implementation. Companies leverage its capabilities for infrastructure management and deployment automation, thus streamlining project delivery timelines. Its ability to handle configuration management and code repositories effectively aids in maintaining development lifecycles, making it a preferred choice for organizations committed to enhancing their DevOps practices.

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

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