GitLab vs. GitHub: Which to Choose?

GitLab and GitHub are platforms to help manage version control for software programming using Git, the open-source software for distributed version control. While GitLab and GitHub essentially do the same task—organizing code changes into a central repository for decentralized work and a stable process for updating software—each program takes a unique version control approach, creating two distinct programs. 

Explore the features that GitLab and GitHub each offer and determine which tool is most appropriate for your business needs.

What is GitLab?

GitLab offers a complete suite of tools for DevOps and security, including continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD), Agile project management tools, and end-to-end security integrations. The “whole package” approach provides a seamless user experience with tools intended to work together. GitLab provides multiple branching, which allows you to focus on a stable user product throughout the process of offering new developments and updates to the software. 

GitLab also offers more features for private repositories, allowing you more control over who will access your project. This added control may be an advantage for private projects or a disadvantage if you intend to create an open-source project.

Offerings

GitLab offers three main tiers to users. Each tier also has the option to add additional features, making each plan customizable for your specific needs. Explore each tier below:

Free

GitLab’s free tier offers essential features for individual users, including 400 compute minutes per month and five users per top-level group.

Cost: $0 per user/month [1]

Premium

GitLab Premium includes everything from the free tier but is suited to the enterprise level, including 10,000 compute minutes per month. The additional features include code ownership and protected branches, team planning, enterprise user and incident management, and CI/CD tools.

Cost: $29 per user/month [1]

Ultimate

GitLab Ultimate includes everything from the Premium tier, allowing organizations to access more features to enhance security, compliance, and portfolio and value stream management. Plus, you get 50,000 compute minutes per month. At the Ultimate level, you also have access to free guest users.

Cost: Sales consultation required [1]

Add on packages

You can also customize your GitLab subscription with add-on options to offer more flexibility. For example, you can add compute minutes or additional storage billed at $10 per 1,000 compute minutes or $5 per month per 10 GB storage [1]. Other add-ons include:

• GitLab Duo Pro: GitLab with integrated AI capabilities. Cost: $19 per user per month

• GitLab Duo Enterprise: GitLab Duo has more advanced features. Note: this plan is “coming soon” as of August 2024. Cost: $39 per user per month

• Enterprise Agile Planning: GitLab with project management capabilities. Cost: $15 per user per month

CI/CD

GitLab CI/CD tools can help you automate the building, testing, and deployment process and provide ongoing monitoring. CI/CD can help you save time and cost and deliver code with fewer bugs. Since you already have access built into GitLab software, you should save time choosing which CI/CD software to use and configuring it to work with your Git program.

DevOps

Like CI/CD, GitLab offers in-house DevOps solutions so you can automate tasks immediately without putting together a third-party program. GitLab’s single application for DevOps provides tools for the comprehensive DevOps lifecycle.

What is GitHub?

GitHub began as an open-source project and is now part of the Microsoft suite. The documentation and support from being part of a larger company offer an advantage for GitHub. However, the company’s open-source capabilities still reflect its roots in open-source work. 

GitHub makes connecting with other projects easy and allows other developers access to your code. This connectivity allows for more collaboration across a wider community but less control over who can interact with your code. 

Another feature of GitHub is how the workflow encourages quick deployment through the structure of merging new changes into the main branch. This allows you to skip some of the more tedious steps required of GitLab to ensure reliability. If something goes wrong in your code, GitHub allows you to quickly revert to a working copy of the code to make changes safely. 

Read more: A Beginner’s Guide for Learning How to Code

GitHub offerings

GitHub offers free and paid plans, which are available for personal and enterprise use. Learn more about each type of plan below:

Free

GitHub’s free plan includes the basics for individuals and organizations. For personal accounts, you can work with unlimited collaborators. You receive access to private and public repositories and limited deployment support. If you use GitHub Free as an organization, you also will have access to GitHub Community Support and team access controls.

Cost: $0 per user/month [2]

Team

GitHub’s Team plan includes features allowing advanced collaboration for individuals and organizations. Advanced features include protected branches, draft pull requests, code owners, and repository insights graphs.

Cost: $4 per user/month [2]

Enterprise

GitHub Enterprise allows users to choose between a cloud-hosted and a self-hosted deployment. It also has additional security features and more extensive deployment controls.

Cost: $21 per user/month [2]

Third-party programs 

Instead of offering CI/CD and DevOps software, GitHub provides a wide range of third-party application configurations to bring in your preferred support software, such as TravisCI or CircleCI. The main advantage of using third parties is the flexibility and amount of choice you’ll have between which programs to use for tasks such as CI/CD and DevOps. 

Read more: 11 DevOps Tools for 2024

GitLab vs. GitHub pros and cons

In comparing the two programs, you’ll see that GitLab and GitHub offer slightly different solutions. Ultimately, you can use this information to choose the best version control system for your software project. Both programs operate on Linux servers and have command-line and web-based interfaces. Each program offers tiered levels of service, including a free plan. Evaluate the two systems in closer detail:

GitLab pros

GitLab’s features include a comprehensive, in-house software development platform to help you build reliable, private projects. Some advantages of using this platform include: 

• In-house convenience: Tools for security, DevOps, CI/CD, and other third-party integrations like Asana, Slack, and Gmail turn version control software into a software development platform. GitLab offers a seamless in-house experience that includes DevOps and CI/CD tools, saving you time and decreasing the number of decisions you have to make.

• Reliability: Regarding deploying code updates, GitLab offers a more secure workflow that requires your work to go through stable pre- and post-production branches. However, these additional steps come at the cost of a faster deployment compared to GitHub.

• Private repositories: GitLab offers more features for private repositories and controls who can access your code.

GitLab cons

While GitLab has advantages that may benefit you, you may also want to consider the potential drawbacks. Several limitations to be aware of include:

• Fewer integration options: While you can integrate with third parties such as Asana, Slack, and Gmail, GitLab offers fewer integrations to third-party applications than GitHub.

• Slower deployment: Updates can be complex, and the additional steps you must take to deploy code updates may take longer to push everything through the workflow.

GitHub pros

On the other side of the debate, GitHub offers a wide range of third-party flexibility, a faster deployment, many different options for customizing your experience, and an emphasis on open-source collaboration. If you’re looking for a software development platform to customize to your needs, GitHub’s third-party integrations give you many options. 

• Third-party integrations help customize your experience. GitHub integrations allow you to choose which software will best suit your needs. You can browse through these apps in GitHub’s marketplace. 

• Speedy deployment without extra baggage: GitHub allows you to deploy programs faster without going through all the protocols you would in GitLab, which helps you get your code out into the world faster.

• Open-source culture: GitHub makes connecting with open-source projects easier and allows code to be shared with potential collaborators. 

GitHub cons

Similar to GitLab, GitHub has its own set of disadvantages. You may want to consider the possible limitations of using GitHub, such as:

• Additional time and costs: Although GitHub provides many options for third-party integrations, you will need to invest extra time and money to determine which programs will be the best fit. GitHub itself is not open-source, meaning limited features are freely available.

• Lack of reliability: While it may be quicker to deploy programs in GitHub, it may cost quality and reliability. Since you don’t have to go through as many deployment protocols, this leaves a more considerable margin for errors or bugs.

Other considerations

To decide which version control platform is better for your needs, consider your current project. Ask yourself a few questions, such as: 

• Do you already have CI/CD tools in mind that you’d like to use, or are you open to exploring a new suite of tools in exchange for ease of use? 

• Are you planning to collaborate with other developers on open-source programming, or are you working on a private project that requires more security and privacy? 

• Do you have specific needs that only one meets? For example, although GitLab allows multiple branches, GibHub facilitates merging new branches into the main one for faster deployment. Is your priority speed (GitHub) or reliability (GitLab)?

The answers to these questions and more can help you choose the best option for your development project. 

Learn more about GitLab vs. GitHub and build your skills with Coursera.

Both GitLab and GitHub are DevOps tools that can help you manage projects but offer unique features. While GitLab provides a fully integrated suite of tools, the community is smaller, and upgrades can be complex. GitHub offers more customization options and a large community but fewer features for free.

To learn more about version control, consider enrolling in the Google IT Automation with Python Professional Certificate. You could learn skills such as version control, troubleshooting and debugging, Python programming, automation, and more in as little as six months.