Digital.ai Release vs GitLab comparison

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Digital.ai Release

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Digital.ai Release and GitLab are competing in the agile delivery and DevOps domain. GitLab has the upper hand due to its extensive features and integration capabilities, considered worthy of its pricing.

Features: Digital.ai Release offers effective release management and deployment automation, suitable for enterprise-scale releases. Additionally, it integrates well with different deployment systems and tools like Jira and Bamboo, making it efficient for managing workflows. GitLab stands out with its all-in-one DevOps platform that encompasses code repository management and CI/CD pipelines, along with a user-friendly interface, making it a comprehensive tool for DevOps processes.

Room for Improvement: Digital.ai Release could enhance its adaptability for non-enterprise settings and simplify its learning curve. Improvements in UI and onboarding processes can make it more accessible. GitLab could enhance its advanced features usage and streamline its comprehensive documentation for easier access. It could also focus on expanding its feature set to avoid drop-off in usage complexity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Digital.ai Release is known for its structured deployment procedures and proactive customer support, catering to complex enterprise environments. GitLab offers flexible deployment models combined with extensive documentation and community support, enhancing convenience for various organizations.

Pricing and ROI: Digital.ai Release involves a higher initial setup cost that offers long-term ROI in large enterprises with its customizability. GitLab offers competitive pricing with a lower initial investment, providing a compelling ROI through its efficient, integrated platform, appealing to organizations seeking comprehensive DevOps solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Digital.ai Release vs. GitLab Report (Updated: August 2025).

Digital.ai Release vs. GitLab

August 2025

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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

Digital.ai Release

Ranking in Build Automation

15th

Ranking in Release Automation

9th

Ranking in DevSecOps

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GitLab

Ranking in Build Automation

1st

Ranking in Release Automation

2nd

Ranking in DevSecOps

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (11th), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (11th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of Digital.ai Release is 1.2%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 12.6%, down from 17.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
GitLab	12.6%
Digital.ai Release	1.2%
Other	86.2%

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

Jeanne-Mari Chandran

Software Configuration Specialist at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

Experience seamless project management and integration with robust tools

The features I find most valuable in Digital.ai Release are the integration with MS Teams, because we have MS Teams channels that publish or push notifications to that. When we start deployments, it sends a notification to the people that we are doing a deployment to their environment. It notifies them when the deployment is started, completed, or if attention is required. I also appreciate the fact that it has plugins for Bamboo and I use lots of Gradle and JSON scripts, and we do SQL upgrades as well, triggering Flyway scripts via Bamboo, along with the integration with XLD and Jira; it's all Atlassian software. Regarding environment management capabilities, Digital.ai Release is mostly useful for me, as it is more application related and that is managed via my XLD dictionary. We have one artifact that is environment agnostic, which has placeholders that correspond to my XLD keys and values, and at deployment time, it substitutes the placeholders with those environment specific values. We don't need to make a specific deployment artifact for dev, test, or production; it is all the same artifact using environment variables, ensuring what we take to production is what was tested.

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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

"The most valuable feature of Digital.ai Release is its ability to communicate with various deployment systems, such as XLD and batch deployments, as well as integrate with tools, such as Flyway and Bamboo. We use Bamboo as our build orchestrator, and Digital.ai Release also integrates with Jira, another Atlassian solution. These capabilities make it a powerful tool for managing workflow, test automation, and other processes."

"The solution can apply one template across multiple applications."

"Overall, I would give Digital.ai Release a rating of nine out of ten; there's always room for improvement, but it's really good."

"The orchestration, building the release, and then just executing it and managing that pipeline — the orchestration capabilities are great for that."

"The time is also reduced because the manual work has tremendously decreased. We just have to click one button, and it will create everything for us."

"The most valuable feature of GitLab is the automatic merging of code."

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

"For us, Gitlab's most valuable feature is the integration with Cypress. We're using Cypress as an automation tool, so we're using GitLab as a tool for running in parallel."

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

"I like that it's easy to deploy our services over GitLab. The customer support is also good with a really active community. You have a lot of support that you can get online with your stack. That is probably one of the benefits of using GitLab. It's also really fast."

"The stability is good."

"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."

"GitLab has better support, and its features are superior compared to Jenkins."

More GitLab pros

Cons

"The solution is a little bit expensive."

"I would like to improve Digital.ai Release by exploring its cloud capabilities as we are currently in the middle of migrating to the cloud, but I actually have no idea what Digital.ai's cloud capabilities are."

"Currently, we put artifact details manually. What we could improve, in our case, is the deployment instruction base. Developers input all the information, including which artifact and where it needs to be deployed. What Digital.ai could do is automatically go to the deployment instruction page, take those artifact details, and implement them."

"The backfill could be improved, we could automate that. Right now it's subjective — it's up to the lead developer's memory to remember to backfill."

"Digital.ai Release could improve by having a better plugin that works with Guardian that we use for mainframe migrations. If there could be an interface or plugin for Guardian that would be beneficial."

"You need to have a good knowledge of the product in order to use it."

"The documentation could be improved to help newcomers better understand things like creating new branches."

"It can be free for commercial use."

"Expand features to match other tools such as a static code analysis tool so third-party integrations are not 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."

"Regarding improvements, making task management is something that GitLab can potentially make easier, similar to what DevOps or Jira does."

"Technologies are always changing. Nowadays, new things like serverless computing and workload management have emerged. We have noticed a few gap items for faster service delivery. For example, we do user interface testing in the latest team and automate it using some tools. Recently, we integrated a tool with user interface testing, which can simulate a multi-user environment. So, we would like to see more integration with different platforms."

"The pricing model of GitLab is an issue for me."

More GitLab cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Overall, the price is just too high; especially considering we're in the middle of a pandemic."

"The solution's license includes all features."

"The solution's pricing is acceptable."

"I'm not sure if they have some kind of discount. I've been negotiating with them on prices before, and I believe they weren't too happy to give discounts, but list prices are $19 per user, per month for Premium and $99 per user, per month for Ultimate. So, the difference between Premium and Ultimate is a bit bigger, and in most companies, you need to build some type of business case."

"In total, I believe we have more than 300 licenses spread over about 100 users, though I can't comment on the costs involved."

"The solution is free."

"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."

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

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

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

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

37%

Computer Software Company

17%

Healthcare Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Digital.ai Release ?

The time is also reduced because the manual work has tremendously decreased. We just have to click one button, and it will create everything for us.

What needs improvement with Digital.ai Release ?

Based on my experience, I would like to improve Digital.ai Release by exploring its cloud capabilities as we are currently in the middle of migrating to the cloud, but I actually have no idea what ...

What is your primary use case for Digital.ai Release ?

My use case for Digital.ai Release is that I work for an insurance company on a very big project that develops multiple different pieces of software. We use Digital.ai Release to move our software ...

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 and cost are on par with other tools and are neither too expensive nor cheap.

What needs improvement with GitLab?

Regarding improvements, making task management is something that GitLab can potentially make easier, similar to what DevOps or Jira does.

Jenkins vs Digital.ai Release

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Product Reports

Download Digital.ai Release product report

Digital.ai Release

September 2025

Download GitLab product report

September 2025

Also Known As

XL Release, XebiaLabs XL Release

Fuzzit

Overview

Automate, orchestrate, and gain visibility into your release pipelines at scale using Digital.ai Release, a release management tool that is designed for enterprises. Control and track releases, standardize processes, and bake compliance and security into your software release pipelines.

Digital.ai

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

3M, GE, John Deere, Deutsche Telekom, Cable & Wireless, Xerox, and Société Générale, Liberty Mutual, EA, Rabobank

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