Git is now the undisputed king of version control — used by over 90% of developers worldwide. It’s free to use, open source, and distributed — meaning that every developer has a copy of the code repo locally, allowing you to work offline. Choosing between GitHub vs GitLab can be confusing, especially when considering long-term project needs like scalability, automation, and difference between github and gitlab security. Migrating or managing repositories across platforms can be challenging if you don’t have the right DevOps tools and strategies in place.
Beyond that, you can set and track milestones and gauge productivity with various charts and reports. While the screenshot above highlights GitHub, GitLab offers equally powerful code collaboration and review tools. For example, you can view and discuss pull (or merge) requests in real-time, make changes, and get a complete visual overview of the code differences. No, the two online services are offered by completely different companies.
- It also works better than its predecessors, such as Apache Subversion, Concurrent Versions System (CVS), Perforce, and Rational ClearCase.
- GitHub has an extensive marketplace with thousands of integrations for various tools and services.
- The multiple branch approach does require a multiple-step testing process.
- If you’re an enterprise that already has a Microsoft contract, you’ll get the best price with GitHub Enterprise with Advanced Security.
- ZDNET’s recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping.
- It’ s a simple yet modern, fully featured Git server used by larger organizations such as Sony, IBM, Alibaba, NASA, O’Reilly Media, SpaceX, CERN, and more.
Once I’m done with my work I can “merge” it back to the main branch (once my team has approved my work) and now those changes will be accessible to everyone through this branch. I can then work on this branch locally and as long as I haven’t pushed the branch up (think of this as “uploading” my changes) other developers won’t be able to access this branch. A developer can then create their own branch, for example if I was working on a new upload user profile image feature I might call this branch upload_user_avatar. This is one of the main reasons Git was created, as a way for developers all over the world to work together on the same project without tripping over each other’s changes. Yet, when it comes down to a full DevOps lifecycle, GitLab still tops the rankings with its high-end built-in CI/CD framework and monitoring features. Michael Kofler studied telematics at Graz University of Technology and is one of the most successful German-language IT specialist authors.
CI/CD Integration (GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI/CD)
It also includes parent-child pipelines, job artifacts, and environment-specific deployments. However, GitHub Actions has a more intuitive interface and easier integration with other GitHub features. If your team is already comfortable with YAML syntax and pipeline logic, moving to GitLab won’t be a downgrade; it will simply be a matter of learning a new tool.
GitLab and GitHub have disparate views on an ideal coding workflow, and we’ll cover these differences in our next section. You need to use an app or third-party integration with GitHub in many cases. You can get the same result—the feature—but you need to jump through some extra hoops to get there. We’ll cover this difference in more detail later, as we pinpoint where the services differ.
GitLab vs. GitHub: Choosing the Right Platform
But it’s less of a “ready-made” package than GitLab, instead opting to give developers the option to implement apps and integrations freely through the GitHub marketplace. Only with Git do you have the freedom to work on various versions at once. It’s a must-have for any team that wants to do feature-based development. It also works better than its predecessors, such as Apache Subversion, Concurrent Versions System (CVS), Perforce, and Rational ClearCase.
- Git is an open source distributed version control system (DVCS) that allows developers to work on the same project from anywhere and even if they’re offline.
- You can add members to projects and groups and assign them roles such as Guest, Reporter, Developer, Maintainer, or Owner.
- As both GitLab and GitHub have good integrations for these tools, the built-in project management features shouldn’t be the deciding factor.
- GitLab CI/CD is a part of GitLab, which enables developers to test, deploy, and monitor their applications easily without any external tools.
- If you’re prioritizing integrated DevOps workflows out of the box, GitLab gives you an edge.
Beyond the Platform: Complementary Tools
The most significant difference in user experience is GitLab’s dedication to CI (continuous integration) and a DevOps workflow. Over 500 project management apps and integrations are also available on the GitHub marketplace. There are no significant areas where one provider offers support and the other doesn’t.
Which platform offers better native DevOps support for CI/CD?
If you’re prioritizing integrated DevOps workflows out of the box, GitLab gives you an edge. GitLab CI/CD is deeply embedded into the platform and doesn’t require any third-party service. You can define your entire pipeline in a .gitlab-ci.yml file, and features like container scanning, auto DevOps, and deployment rollbacks are included in even the free tier. GitHub, on the other hand, relies on GitHub Actions, which is flexible and powerful but still maturing in some areas. If you want a plug-and-play CI/CD environment with fewer external dependencies, GitLab might be a better fit. GitHub and GitLab are both powerful platforms that help developers collaborate, manage code, and streamline DevOps workflows.
If you didn’t have remote repos it would be extremely inconvenient working on a single project as a team. This allows multiple developers to share the same work-flow, pushing and pulling to the same target. GitHub is a cloud service that allows you to store your Git repository remotely. Instead you can revert to the previous working commit (version) deploy that and debug the issue locally without your service having too much downtime.
Integration and ecosystem
Another core difference is that GitLab offers you a complete software development solution. That said, GitLab does offer integrations with some third-party programs and platforms such as Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Gmail, and numerous other apps and platforms. Version control systems are important tools for managing code changes and collaboration. However, they have key differences that can influence which one is the best fit for your project. In this article, we will explore the differences between GitLab and GitHub, highlighting their features, benefits, and use cases.
The first, and in my opinion most important, difference is how the project develops as open source at the two hosts. There’s an open source platform that is free for self hosting deployments and everyone is welcome to contribute to its codebase and that’s GitLab. Although GitHub is proprietary, which means that the platform is closed, it does support open source projects.
Both GitHub and GitLab also support integrations with third-party security tools, allowing teams to customize their security scanning processes according to their specific needs. This means you can work offline and still have access to all previous versions of your code. When you’re ready, you can share your changes with others by pushing them to a remote repository.
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