GitHub dominates with 100M+ developers and superior ecosystem integration, while GitLab offers an all-in-one DevOps platform with built-in CI/CD and self-hosting options at lower cost.
GitHub vs GitLab — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Web-based Git repository hosting and collaboration platform owned by Microsoft
Unified DevOps platform with integrated CI/CD, container registry, and project management.
Developer User Base. Pricing Model. Built-in CI/CD. Self-Hosting Option. Enterprise Security Features. Third-Party Integrations. Time to First Deployment
Choose GitHub if you need the largest developer community, superior third-party ecosystem, and prefer simplicity with excellent collaboration features. Choose GitLab if you want an all-in-one DevOps platform with included CI/CD, lower total cost of ownership, self-hosting flexibility, and comprehensive security scanning built-in.
GitHub: 2000 minutes with Actions | GitLab: 400 minutes with shared runners
GitHub: Enterprise edition only ($231/user/year minimum) | GitLab: Community and Enterprise editions available
GitHub: Unlimited LFS (with 1GB free tier) | GitLab: 5GB total
GitHub: Advanced with CodeQL (free on public repos) | GitLab: Built-in for all tiers
GitHub: Over 100 million developers | GitLab: Approximately 30 million users
GitHub: Yes, with unlimited repositories | GitLab: Yes, with 5GB storage limit
GitHub: $21 for Teams | GitLab: $10.50 for Premium
GitHub: ~200 million | GitLab: Unlimited on all plans
GitHub: Third-party plugin | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: $231 | GitLab: $29 (Premium tier, no separate enterprise pricing)
GitHub: 2,000 minutes (GitHub Actions) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: $4/user/month (GitHub Team) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: GitHub Functions (beta/limited) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Via GitHub Pages or custom workflow | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Version control & code collaboration | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Unlimited repos, 100 GB/repo max | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Basic insights for Actions only | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 2,000 (GitHub Actions) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: GDPR-compliant (multiple regions) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: User analytics enabled by default | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: GitHub Enterprise (paid, proprietary) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 2,000 (public) / 500 (private) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Unlimited (97M+ total) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Configurable required reviewers + CODEOWNERS enforcement | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: N/A (requires external CI/CD) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Unlimited (via Actions) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: No (code storage only) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Community integrations only | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 2,000 | GitLab: 400 minutes/month
GitHub: $231+ (GitHub Enterprise) | GitLab: $99 (Premium Edition)
GitHub: GitHub Actions (separate workflow service) | GitLab: GitLab CI/CD (native pipeline engine)
GitHub: Pull Requests with detailed approval workflows | GitLab: Merge Requests with code owner enforcement
GitHub: Audit logs, SSO, IP allowlisting (Enterprise only) | GitLab: DORA metrics, advanced audit, compliance reporting (Premium+)
GitHub: GitHub Apps marketplace plugin | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: No, Enterprise tier required ($231/user/year) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 10,000+ GitHub Apps | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Yes (GitHub Actions) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 3 systems (Git, SVN, Mercurial) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: GitHub Enterprise with SLA guarantees | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Unlimited repositories (1GB LFS limit) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: US-based servers, limited EU compliance | GitLab: N/A
Built-in Code Scanning & Security Features
GitHub: Advanced (SAST, secret scanning, dependency alerts) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: For-profit (Microsoft subsidiary) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: $19.25/user/month ($96.25 total) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: N/A (managed cloud) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 6,000 minutes (GitHub Actions) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 20,000+ marketplace apps | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Limited (Microsoft cloud) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 5-10 minutes (sign up) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 5,000+ GitHub contributors | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: $13,800 (GitHub Teams: $21/month per user) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 100+ million | GitLab: 30+ million
GitHub: $0 (public repos only) | GitLab: $0 (includes 5GB storage, private repos)
GitHub: Included but billed at $0.008/minute | GitLab: Fully included, unlimited minutes
GitHub: Not available | GitLab: $0 (free community edition)
GitHub: 0 (not applicable) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: 300-500ms (via Actions) | GitLab: N/A
GitHub: Requires paid Advanced Security ($45/repo/month) | GitLab: SAST, DAST, dependency scanning included in Premium
Free Monthly CI/CD Minutes (Private Repos)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Included in Ultimate ($99/month per user)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Issues, Epics, Roadmaps, advanced Boards, Milestones
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Requires separate account/platform
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 10 concurrent pipelines
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Yes (SAST, DAST, container, dependency)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Native Git (no external required)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Yes (issues, boards, wiki, milestones)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Unlimited (up to 5 users)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Yes (free Docker registry)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: $228/year ($19/month)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Third-party plugin required
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Yes (free Community Edition)
Maximum CI/CD Pipeline Minutes (free tier/month)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Built-in full-featured system
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Yes (GitLab CI/CD)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 3 (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 5 (SAST, DAST, dependency, secret, container)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Forgejo, GitLab Community Edition
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: $8.25 (Premium at $99/year)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 400 minutes (shared)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 10,000+ (with performance degradation)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Open-source Community Edition available
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Via third-party plugins/SAML
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Basic; limited test case tracking
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 400+ via marketplace
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: $29 (Premium plan)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Included in Free tier (SAST, DAST, Dependency, Container)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 600 (authenticated)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Community, Premium, and Ultimate editions
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Yes - includes 50,000 CI/CD minutes
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Native GitLab CI/CD
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: $2,900 (Premium tier at $29/user)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Unlimited public/private repos included
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 400+ templates included
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: ~20 standard field types
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 12 million+ monthly active users
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: SAST, DAST, dependency scanning included in Premium
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 2-4 hours for basic CI/CD pipeline with templates
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 500-1,000 per instance; sharding available
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Free tier and above
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: $8.25/month (Premium)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: $9,900/year (Premium self-managed)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: 20% (estimated enterprise adoption)
GitHub: N/A | GitLab: Manual webhook-based integration
GitHub vs GitLab — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for GitHub vs GitLab. Contains 155 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
GitHub vs GitLab — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for GitHub vs GitLab.
Is GitHub or GitLab better for open-source projects?
GitHub is significantly better for open-source with 100M+ developers, 94M+ public repositories, and the GitHub Trending page driving discovery. GitLab is suitable for open-source but has lower visibility due to smaller community (30M developers). Most major open-source projects (Linux kernel, Kubernetes, React) host on GitHub.
GitLab has lower total cost of ownership. GitHub Pro starts at $4/user/month but CI/CD costs $0.008/minute (easily $50-300/month for active teams). GitLab Premium at $29/month includes unlimited CI/CD, making it 60-80% cheaper for CI/CD-heavy workflows. For self-hosting, GitLab Community Edition is free vs GitHub Enterprise's $231/month minimum.
Yes, both offer self-hosted versions. GitLab provides free Community Edition self-hosting with unlimited private repos. GitHub Enterprise Server requires paid licensing starting at $231/month minimum. GitLab's self-hosting is more cost-effective and feature-complete in the free tier.
GitLab's CI/CD is built-in and included at all tiers with unlimited execution minutes. GitHub Actions requires separate setup and per-minute billing ($0.008/minute). For complex DevOps workflows, GitLab provides integrated deployment, security scanning, and infrastructure management; GitHub requires integrating 5-10 third-party tools.
Which is better for enterprise security?
GitLab offers superior built-in security at lower cost with SAST, DAST, container scanning, and dependency scanning included in Premium ($29/month). GitHub requires expensive Advanced Security add-on ($45/month per repository). For enterprises with 50+ repos, GitLab is 70%+ cheaper while offering more comprehensive vulnerability scanning.
Developer User Base: GitHub has 100+ million developers, while GitLab has 30+ million developers.
Pricing Model: GitHub has $4-24/month per user (GitHub Pro/Team) or free for public repos, while GitLab has $0-99/month (Free/Premium/Ultimate).
Built-in CI/CD: GitHub has GitHub Actions (pay-per-minute, $0.008/minute), while GitLab has GitLab CI/CD included in all plans.
Self-Hosting Option: GitHub has GitHub Enterprise Server ($231/month minimum), while GitLab has GitLab Self-Managed (free community edition available).
Enterprise Security Features: GitHub has Advanced security scanning in GitHub Advanced Security ($45/month/repo), while GitLab has SAST, dependency scanning, container scanning included in Premium.
Third-Party Integrations: GitHub has 5,000+ integrations on GitHub Marketplace, while GitLab has 1,200+ integrations available.
Time to First Deployment: GitHub has Requires external CI/CD tool setup (5-15 minutes with GitHub Actions), while GitLab has Built-in CI/CD ready immediately (2-3 minutes).