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GitLab vs Microsoft Azure DevOps comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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
7.6
GitLab improves ROI by increasing efficiency, reducing deployment time, and enhancing DevOps through cost-saving, automation, and vulnerability management.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Azure DevOps boosts ROI through productivity, streamlined processes, and management ease, with integration improvements needed for non-Microsoft tools.
Migrating to GitLab is bringing time-saving benefits, and everything is easier to automate.
We have saved time significantly, reducing deployment time from four hours to five minutes per deployment.
On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the best, I would say ROI is an eight.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
GitLab's support varies by license; paid users praise responsiveness, while free version users rely on community forums and documentation.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Azure DevOps support has mixed reviews, with praise for speed but criticism for complex issue handling.
We have rarely needed to escalate issues to technical support since GitLab usually runs seamlessly.
I have interacted with architects for some advice during the implementation, and they were prompt in their response.
I have had meetings where they taught me, explained things, and provided guidance for starting from scratch.
Resolving issues took time since understanding our unique problems was not always straightforward for support teams.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
GitLab's scalable container architecture supports diverse environments, flexible deployment, and smooth integration, despite some configuration and scaling challenges.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Azure DevOps efficiently scales to meet diverse organizational needs, supporting projects from small teams to extensive deployments.
It has all the features required for our coding and deployment needs, which makes it scalable to our changing requirements.
We're transitioning to OpenShift for future scalability with increased user numbers.
For scaling, other deployment options from GitLab's side need to be adopted.
The scalability has left me pleased, not just for our teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, but as we expanded into North America, Africa, and even Australia.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
GitLab is highly stable and reliable, with minor issues mainly under heavy load or during updates.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Azure DevOps is praised for stability and reliability, with minor issues quickly resolved, requiring a solid internet connection.
I have not encountered any performance or stability issues with GitLab so far.
The updates are frequent and demanding, happening at least once a week due to security reasons.
The solution is stable, and we did not encounter any stability issues.
Everything works ninety-nine percent well.
 

Room For Improvement

GitLab users seek improved CI/CD automation, integrations, user interface, project management, security, pricing, and support for enhanced usability.
Azure DevOps users seek better integration, reporting, project management, customization, security, updates, and documentation enhancements.
It would be beneficial to have a user-friendly interface for setting up these configurations, instead of just writing YAML files.
It is essential to conduct proper testing, such as unit tests and code coverage, within the SDLC pipelines.
GitLab can improve its user interface to make conflict resolution more user-friendly.
Those processes are a bit difficult for some customers who may not have technical knowledge and don't go through the entire documentation.
Out of the box, the solution is effective, yet with advancements in AI, it has the potential to be more intuitive.
Instead of customers having to try many options themselves, they benefit from practitioner recommendations.
 

Setup Cost

GitLab provides flexible pricing with open-source access and paid tiers, catering to different enterprise needs and budgets.
Microsoft Azure DevOps offers competitive pricing with flexible options, considered affordable compared to Jira and AWS, with a free tier.
Even when working in other small organizations, we opted for GitLab as it was cost-efficient.
The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.
The price is high, and it limits user accessibility.
They don't even provide a POC where you can have a sandbox or stuff that you can go through and see how exactly it's costing.
I find it to be expensive.
 

Valuable Features

GitLab excels in UI, CI/CD, code management, and integration, offering user-friendly, efficient, and scalable development and deployment features.
Microsoft Azure DevOps enhances productivity with seamless Microsoft integration, CI/CD pipelines, automation, robust security, and agile support.
As we implement automated testing and DevSecOps, it speeds up the process by forty to sixty percent.
The Ultimate version offers enhanced features for security scanning through DAST and SAST analysis, which have greatly benefitted our project workflow.
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.
I can't approve my own request and move the code around without a review.
Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months.
No organization would use just one vendor, and the goal is about what works well, is scalable, performs well, and offers a reasonable total cost of ownership.
 

Categories and Ranking

GitLab
Ranking in Release Automation
2nd
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (9th), Build Automation (1st), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (11th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (3rd)
Microsoft Azure DevOps
Ranking in Release Automation
1st
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
133
Ranking in other categories
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Release Automation category, the mindshare of GitLab is 32.1%, down from 34.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 34.9%, down from 39.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Release Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Rohit Kesharwani - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Ivan Angelov - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates agile transformation with potential for enhanced intuitiveness
What I liked about the solution is that it offers numerous features that are not available by default unless you are agile. Transitioning from the traditional Waterfall model to an agile methodology was challenging for us. Until 2020, our team predominantly worked with the Waterfall approach, using local tools like ServiceNow. We had a few team members who were familiar with Agile ISO, but none had experience with Azure. Therefore, we pursued Azure certification at the AZ-900 level. Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months. This preparation helped us get accustomed to the new tool, as transitioning to a new system invariably requires time. Managing a pipeline of deliverables became significantly easier with this solution. We utilized it for stories and integrated change management with Azure DevOps. Eventually, everything related to the environment was organized there, enabling us to follow up and track progress with our technical engineers on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Reports were automatically generated and sent to management, offering them insights into our progress concerning the predefined roadmap.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
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...
Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...
Which is better - TFS or Azure DevOps?
TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very fri...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.
 

Also Known As

Fuzzit
Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps
 

Overview

 

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
Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype
Find out what your peers are saying about GitLab vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
851,471 professionals have used our research since 2012.