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GitHub vs GitLab comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Version Control (3rd)
GitLab
Ranking in Application Security Tools
9th
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) (7th), 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 May 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 2.8% 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

"All the features are valuable, but the most important feature is that GitHub has advanced security. The second important feature is the capability to create custom GitHub actions and the capability to deploy in different types of architectural infrastructures, such as hybrid, private, or public."
"The solution is scalable."
"We've found the technical support to be very helpful."
"The versioning of the code and the tracking of changes are definitely some of my top features."
"The technical support of the solution is good, and our company has used it for GitHub upgrades."
"This product is very good for storing and versioning code."
"The control is the most valuable feature as developers can work on a single code."
"The tool is valuable because it helps us work in a distributed environment with multiple people across different locations and time zones. We have a common repository that everyone works on, which would be tough to manage manually. GitHub helps us maintain this single source of truth. Everyone can check out their own branches, which is important for our branching strategies. We can fork, check out feature branches, work on our code, and merge back into parent branches for deployment. This is crucial when multiple people are working on the same codebase."
"Continuous integration with deployment is very powerful, which is a significant reason for migrating from TFS to 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."
"It speeds up our development, it's faster, safer, and more convenient."
"Git hosting has an integration with ACD which is why we liked this solution in the first place."
"The solution is stable."
"GitLab is kind of an image of GitHub, so it gives us the flexibility to monitor our changes in the repos."
"They incorporate new features every September, and they have introduced their own code editor and AI features."
"The scalability is good."
 

Cons

"The documentation needs to be more concise and easier for developers to understand."
"The onboarding process could be simplified."
"One area for improvement in GitHub could be integration with other tools, such as test management or project management tools."
"There is nothing that I find that needs improvement in GitHub."
"It would be good if there were training materials for junior developers."
"There is a bit of a learning curve."
"GitHub should work on enhancing its search capability. The tool should add some more features and functionalities."
"I would want to see some form of code security scanning implemented."
"You need to have a good knowledge of the product in order to use it."
"The pricing model of GitLab is an issue for me."
"GitLab can improve its user interface to make conflict resolution more user-friendly."
"We do face issues in our company when we run out of disk space."
"Reporting could be improved."
"GitLab's UI could be improved."
"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."
"GitLab should work on improving their user interface for GitOps as it is lagging behind."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model from GitHub is very clear."
"It’s an open-source solution."
"Regarding pricing, I'd rate it eight out of ten. It's decent and not too expensive, and small businesses can also afford it. With AWS taking CodeCommit out of the market, I don't see many competitors for small companies in terms of GitHub."
"GitHub is an open-source product, but when using the free-to-use version, anyone can see the code we're working on."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"You don't have to pay for a license if you are using the free version."
"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."
"My company purchased it. Before, we used to receive the free version, but then they purchased some of the features."
"In terms of the pricing for GitLab, on a scale of one to five, with one being expensive and five being cheap, I'm rating pricing for the solution a four. It could still be cheaper because right now, my company has a small team, and sometimes it's difficult to use a paid product for a small team. You'd hope the team will grow and scale, but currently, you're paying a high license fee for a small team. I'm referring to the GitLab license that has premium features and will give you all features. This can be a problem for management to approve the high price of the license for a team this small."
"The initial setup cost is excellent and you can add the premium features later."
"The price of GitLab could be better, it is expensive."
"My company uses the free version of GitLab, which is GitLab Community Edition. There is a licensed version also available for GitLab."
"The open-source version is very good and the commercial version is reasonably priced."
"We are using the free version of GitLab."
"The price is okay."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
6%
Educational Organization
24%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

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?
The pricing of GitHub depends on the choice of solutions, such as building one's own GitHub Runners to save money or using GitHub's Runners with extra costs. The pricing is considered reasonable an...
What needs improvement with GitHub?
There are still areas for improvement with GitHub Actions and their deployment workflows, as they have made significant progress but are not yet polished. Occasionally, stability can be an issue, t...
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?
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...
 

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: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.