GitLab vs Harness comparison

GitLab and Harness are both solutions in the Build Automation category. GitLab is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while Harness is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.8. GitLab holds a 15.9% mindshare in BA, compared to Harness’s 7.0% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of GitLab users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Harness users who would recommend it.

GitLab

Read 84 GitLab reviews

5,610 Views
4,770 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Harness

Read 4 Harness reviews

2,153 Views
1,466 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

GitLab

Harness

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

GitLab and Harness compete in the software development domain. GitLab has the upper hand with its all-encompassing DevOps platform offering, contrasting with Harness's specialization in continuous delivery automation.

Features: GitLab delivers an integrated set of tools covering version control, continuous integration and delivery, and robust project management. Harness sets itself apart with its focus on simplifying continuous delivery, featuring automated rollbacks, feature flags, and insights into deployment efficiency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab provides both self-managed and cloud-hosted deployment options, valued for flexibility and detailed documentation. Harness opts for a managed service, prioritizing simplicity in continuous delivery and offering responsive customer support.

Pricing and ROI: GitLab is more budget-friendly initially, offering a comprehensive DevOps solution that appeals to cost-conscious businesses. Harness, with potentially higher setup costs, aims to deliver long-term ROI by optimizing delivery processes through automation and efficiency gains.

To learn more, read our detailed GitLab vs. Harness Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Harness

April 2025

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Helped 851,604 peers since 2012

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

GitLab

Ranking in Build Automation

1st

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (9th), Release Automation (2nd), Rapid Application Development Software (11th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (3rd)

Harness

Ranking in Build Automation

11th

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

30th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Cost Management (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of GitLab is 15.9%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Harness is 7.0%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven

Improved agility and time to market with CI/CD enhancements

The CI/CD pipelines in GitLab ( /products/gitlab-reviews ) 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.

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Linwei Yuan

Software Engineer at Citi

Streamline microservices deployment with integrated execution pipelines and comprehensive monitoring

Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place. It is very convenient since we have many microservices, so having one platform for all of them is beneficial. The dashboard allows me to monitor all core services' deployment status in one place, making it easier to find bugs and check logs.

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

"GitLab is very useful for pipelines, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. It is also stable."

"I like GitLab from the CI/CD perspective. It is much easier to set up CI/CD and then integrate with other tools."

"It streamlines our DevOps processes with automated CI/CD pipelines."

"I like that you can use GitLab as a double-sided solution for both DevOps and version management. It's a good product for working in these two areas, and the user interface makes it easy to understand."

"Of all available products, it was the easiest to use and easy to install."

"It is user-friendly, easy to use, and easy to administer."

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

"We use the Git repository and tagging feature. We are a product-based company and use this solution to move to a forward or backward tag."

More GitLab pros

"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place."

"Harness starts integrating with organizations, making everything automated without the need for manual interruption."

"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place, making it convenient."

"It's a highly customizable DevOps tool."

"The features of Harness are valuable, supporting rolling deployments, basic deployments, and blue-green deployments with zero downtime."

Cons

"There was a problem with the build environment when we were looking at developing iOS applications. iOS build require Mac machines and there are no Mac machines provided by GitLab in their cloud. So to build for mobile iOS application, we needed to use our own Mac machine within our own infrastructure. If GitLab were to provide a feature such that an iOS application could also be built through GitLab directly, that would be great."

"I would like to have some features to support peer review."

"GitLab should work on improving their user interface for GitOps as it is lagging behind."

"Based on what I know so far, its integration with Kubernetes is not so good. We have to develop many things to make it work. We have to acquire third-party components to work with Kubernetes."

"There are missing search features, particularly when searching repositories or applying filters. Additionally, I have encountered issues with the deployment of CI/CD pipelines, especially dealing with variable environments."

"I would like to see AI support in GitLab."

"It would be really good if they integrated more features in application security."

"GitLab could add a plugin to integrate with Kubernetes stuff."

More GitLab cons

"There's also room for improvement in debugging pipeline issues, which can sometimes become complex."

"Even with automation, there's a requirement for manual change requests for approvals."

"When integrating Harness with more than twenty applications in one place, it becomes less stable, causing improvements to be necessary."

"I prefer the previous less compact UI version of Harness, which showed more details on the screen."

"When deploying multiple components to multiple environments, like production and BCP, failures sometimes occur. Improvements are needed when deploying one component to one environment."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using its free version, and we are evaluating its Premium version. Its Ultimate version is very expensive."

"This is an open-source solution."

"There are different licensing options available, including a free limited-user license."

"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."

"We are using the free version of GitLab."

"The price is okay."

"The initial setup cost is excellent and you can add the premium features later."

"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."

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

33%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

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What do you like most about Harness?

It's a highly customizable DevOps tool.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Harness?

When deploying multiple components to multiple environments, like production and BCP, failures sometimes occur. Improvements are needed when deploying one component to one environment.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Harness?

Our primary use case for Harness ( /products/harness-reviews ) is as a deployment tool. Although I am not a DevOps engineer, my team uses Harness ( /products/harness-reviews ) for deployment purpos...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs GitLab

Compared 25% of the time

GitHub CoPilot vs GitLab

Compared 14% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs GitLab

Compared 7% of the time

AWS CodePipeline vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

Tekton vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

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Jenkins vs Harness

Compared 20% of the time

GitHub Actions vs Harness

Compared 19% of the time

TeamCity vs Harness

Compared 14% of the time

Tekton vs Harness

Compared 12% of the time

Bamboo vs Harness

Compared 7% of the time

More Harness Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitLab

May 2025

Download GitLab product report

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

May 2025

Download Harness product report

Also Known As

Fuzzit

Armory

Overview

GitLab is a complete DevOps platform that enables teams to collaborate and deliver software faster.

It provides a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle, from planning and development to testing, deployment, and monitoring.

With GitLab, teams can streamline their workflows, automate processes, and improve productivity.

GitLab

Harness offers a comprehensive toolset for automating deployment processes and enhancing software update efficiency. It's lauded for its CI/CD capabilities, feature flagging, and real-time deployment monitoring. Key features include an intuitive UI, secret management, and robust rollback functionalities, all contributing to improved productivity and reduced errors in DevOps environments.

Harness

Sample Customers

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

Linedata, Openbank, Home Depot, Advanced

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Harness

April 2025

Free Report: GitLab vs. Harness

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