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GitHub vs GitLab comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
3.3
GitHub improves efficiency and cost savings with enhanced code management, secure storage, and streamlined version control for faster releases.
Sentiment score
6.2
GitLab boosts ROI by enhancing efficiency, reducing deployment time, and supporting DevOps with innovative, cost-effective tools for faster market delivery.
Regarding release frequency, previously we had one to two releases per week, but now we achieve daily or on-demand releases, resulting in a three to five-fold increase in release frequency.
Site Reliability Engineer at Granicus Inc.
Migrating to GitLab is bringing time-saving benefits, and everything is easier to automate.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We have saved time significantly, reducing deployment time from four hours to five minutes per deployment.
IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.7
GitHub's customer service is generally efficient, with community forums often preferred due to quick, effective solutions.
Sentiment score
6.6
GitLab support receives mixed reviews, with premium users satisfied, while free-tier users experience slower response and limited support.
The technical support from GitHub is generally good, and they communicate effectively.
Senior DevOps Engineer at Simplify3x Software Private Limited
Some forums help you get answers faster since you just type in your concern and see resolutions from other engineers.
Quality Assurance Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I have not used GitHub's technical support extensively because there are many resources and a robust knowledge base available due to the large user community.
Platform Engineer at a recreational facilities/services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We have rarely needed to escalate issues to technical support since GitLab usually runs seamlessly.
AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy
I have interacted with architects for some advice during the implementation, and they were prompt in their response.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I have had meetings where they taught me, explained things, and provided guidance for starting from scratch.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
GitHub excels in scalability, seamlessly supporting large user bases and complex projects with robust performance and adaptability.
Sentiment score
7.3
GitLab is praised for its scalability, supporting diverse workloads and environments, though smaller teams might underutilize it.
We have never had a problem with scalability, so I would rate it at least eight to nine.
Consultant at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
GitHub is more scalable than on-prem solutions, allowing for cloud-based scaling which is beneficial for processing large workloads efficiently.
Platform Engineer at a recreational facilities/services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It has all the features required for our coding and deployment needs, which makes it scalable to our changing requirements.
Senior Application Developer at IBM
We're transitioning to OpenShift for future scalability with increased user numbers.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
For scaling, other deployment options from GitLab's side need to be adopted.
Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
GitHub is highly reliable, praised for seamless performance and minimal issues, with users rating its reliability very high.
Sentiment score
8.2
GitLab is highly rated for stability, with users rarely experiencing performance issues, bugs, or downtime despite minor upgrade challenges.
If a skilled developer uses it, it is ten out of ten for stability.
Lead Software Engineer at The 5 Chairs
It provides a reliable environment for code management.
Senior DevOps Engineer at Simplify3x Software Private Limited
GitHub is mostly stable, but there can be occasional hiccups.
Platform Engineer at a recreational facilities/services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have not encountered any performance or stability issues with GitLab so far.
AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy
The updates are frequent and demanding, happening at least once a week due to security reasons.
Chief Technology Officer at Acclym
We raised a request with GitLab support, but they were unable to help because they could not find the root cause of what went wrong.
Assistant Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users recommend improvements in GitHub's interface, integration, documentation, and tools addressing performance, learning curve, and licensing issues.
GitLab users face challenges with integration, documentation, pricing, and scalability, with improvements needed in security, performance, and flexibility.
When working with the CI/CD pipeline and somebody is writing the workflow file, it would be best to include the AI feature so if they write incorrect code, it will notify me about it in the same dashboard, eliminating the need to use third-party tools to review the file.
AWS & Azure Engineer at a media company with 11-50 employees
I am providing this feedback for Copilot because it seems more widespread and more companies allow it rather than Amp, and it would be beneficial if they catch up with Amp on this capability.
Senior Software Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Security could make GitHub better. OWASP Top Ten security advisors could be integrated on GitHub, and it could provide checks and advice.
Software Development Manager at a media company with 10,001+ employees
It would be beneficial to have a user-friendly interface for setting up these configurations, instead of just writing YAML files.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It is essential to conduct proper testing, such as unit tests and code coverage, within the SDLC pipelines.
Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven
GitLab can improve its user interface to make conflict resolution more user-friendly.
Senior Application Developer at IBM
 

Setup Cost

GitHub provides cost-effective pricing options for enterprises with free public repositories and paid private ones, despite licensing challenges.
GitLab provides free and paid plans, with perceived reasonable pricing, though higher for small teams needing advanced features.
Normally, GitHub is not expensive, but it would be welcome if it reduces costs for developing countries.
Lead Software Engineer at The 5 Chairs
The pricing of GitHub is reasonable, with the cost being around seven dollars per user per month for private repositories.
QA Manager at Next Solutions
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.
Platform Engineer at a recreational facilities/services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Even when working in other small organizations, we opted for GitLab as it was cost-efficient.
Senior Application Developer at IBM
The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The price is high, and it limits user accessibility.
IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione
 

Valuable Features

GitHub enhances collaboration with features like version control, automation, security, cloud access, and integration with Azure and Jenkins.
GitLab excels with a user-friendly interface, robust CI/CD, strong integrations, security, automation, and multi-cloud support for developers.
The pull request facility for code review.
QA Manager at Next Solutions
GitHub Actions allow for creating multiple jobs that run in different stages such as build, test, and deploy, which enable better visibility and control over the deployment pipeline.
Senior DevOps Engineer at Simplify3x Software Private Limited
For branching, it works well, especially in an agile environment.
Quality Assurance Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
As we implement automated testing and DevSecOps, it speeds up the process by forty to sixty percent.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The Ultimate version offers enhanced features for security scanning through DAST and SAST analysis, which have greatly benefitted our project workflow.
IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione
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.
Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven
 

Categories and Ranking

GitHub
Ranking in Application Security Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
Version Control (3rd), Agile and DevOps Services (2nd)
GitLab
Ranking in Application Security Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (5th), Rapid Application Development Software (9th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (4th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of GitHub is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitLab is 2.1%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
GitHub1.3%
GitLab2.1%
Other96.6%
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Murathan OK - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Development Manager at a media company with 10,001+ employees
CI/CD workflows have become streamlined and AI support has improved collaborative development
We are using GitHub because it is open-source software, which is the most valuable solution for us. The open source and community support are very good. We are always up-to-date with the community, and integration difficulty is very low. If you integrate any CI/CD solutions on GitHub, it's very easy. We started using GitHub about three months ago with AI integration. For our deployments, some developers can be very shy about asking for descriptions on their commits. We are using AI support for comments and deployment management, which is beautiful. We are not using the GitHub API for automating workflows in our projects. I give GitHub a five-star rating for the review capabilities. I also give GitHub five stars for integration with third-party applications. There is a lot of integration available on GitHub. If you want to integrate something, even if it could be integrated before GitHub, you can make your code and integrate your own in-house applications. It's a very easy and powerful aspect of GitHub.
BasilJiji - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Role-based workflows have transformed daily deployments and improve team collaboration
GitLab has role-based access control, so when a team member needs to make a code change, they cannot directly apply it to the environment but must put in a merge request. Once a senior reviews the code and approves it, then it is implemented across the environment, making it safer and allowing everyone to experience the process. The best features GitLab offers are version control and automation, which are the major things that stand out to me. When it comes to access, the login is very smooth, with just one login integrated with our Okta, allowing everyone to log in easily. Deployments become much easier, and that is how GitLab helps. The automation features make my work easier because we use a tool called AWX, which is connected to GitLab. Whenever we run a job on AWX, it directly checks the code and uses it. Since the code is not preserved locally but kept in the cloud, it is safe and nobody can tamper with it. When it comes to safety, that is a major thing. Automation features allow the code to be accessed from any tools we use, so the jobs we run are helping tremendously and doing their work perfectly. For pipeline tasks, we have created a significant amount of pipelines, which are all hosted in GitLab. Running the pipelines has become much easier, and they are doing a perfect job, helping tremendously in our day-to-day activities. GitLab has positively impacted my organization because previously we stored code locally on servers, leading to many risks. Since GitLab came into our environment, our integration and deployments became much easier, helping our work become much smoother. Improvements from GitLab have led to better team collaboration because when several people are working, they can all edit the code and submit it as a merge request, and once approved, it reflects directly to the main branch. Many can work at the same time. When it comes to deployments, deploying has become much faster since we started using GitLab, and even if errors occur, we can spot them easily and troubleshoot, which has helped tremendously.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business42
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise46
 

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?
I was paying approximately one hundred dollars annually about a year ago. I am uncertain of the current cost, but GitHub without Copilot is free as far as I know. I am not paying anything for my Gi...
What needs improvement with GitHub?
Security could make GitHub better. OWASP Top Ten security advisors could be integrated on GitHub, and it could provide checks and advice. That would be much better. Additionally, LLM integration on...
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 setup cost was moderate and not very high. For GitLab SaaS, the initial setup cost was minimal, while self-managed GitLab involved infrastructure, VM storage backups, runner configuration, and ...
What needs improvement with GitLab?
A pain point I have encountered with GitLab is that large GitLab-ci.yml files become hard to read and maintain. YAML syntax is strict, and errors are easy to make, while debugging pipeline logic ca...
 

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: February 2026.
881,665 professionals have used our research since 2012.