GitLab is a unified DevOps platform with stronger built-in CI/CD and container registry at lower cost, while Azure DevOps excels in enterprise integration with Microsoft tools and offers superior work item tracking. GitLab is better for organizations prioritizing all-in-one DevOps simplicity, whereas Azure DevOps wins for Microsoft-heavy enterprises.
GitLab vs Azure DevOps — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Unified DevOps platform with integrated CI/CD, container registry, and project management.
Enterprise DevOps platform by Microsoft with deep integration into Microsoft 365 and Azure ecosystem.
Built-in CI/CD Pipeline. Container Registry. Microsoft Stack Integration. Self-Hosted Option. Free Tier Monthly CI/CD Minutes. Test Management Features. Average Implementation Time
Choose GitLab if you want a simpler, cost-effective all-in-one DevOps platform with powerful built-in CI/CD, strong open-source community support, and minimal Microsoft dependency. Choose Azure DevOps if your organization is heavily invested in Microsoft tools (Office 365, Dynamics 365, Power BI), requires advanced work item tracking at enterprise scale, or needs deep Visual Studio Team Services integration—the tighter Microsoft ecosystem integration justifies the complexity for large enterprises.
GitLab: 400 minutes with shared runners | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Community and Enterprise editions available | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Unlimited on all plans | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Built-in for all tiers | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Approximately 30 million users | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Yes, with 5GB storage limit | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $10.50 for Premium | Azure DevOps: N/A
Free Monthly CI/CD Minutes (Private Repos)
GitLab: 5 GB per project | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 900+ Templates | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Included in Ultimate ($99/month per user) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Issues, Epics, Roadmaps, advanced Boards, Milestones | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Requires separate account/platform | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 10 concurrent pipelines | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 12-15 seconds | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Yes (SAST, DAST, container, dependency) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Native Git (no external required) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 45-60 minutes | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Yes (issues, boards, wiki, milestones) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 80+ Templates | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Unlimited (up to 5 users) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Yes (free Docker registry) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $228/year ($19/month) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Third-party plugin required | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Yes (free Community Edition) | Azure DevOps: N/A
Maximum CI/CD Pipeline Minutes (free tier/month)
GitLab: 400 minutes/month | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Built-in full-featured system | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 30-45 minutes | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Yes (GitLab CI/CD) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 3 (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Native (included) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 5 (SAST, DAST, dependency, secret, container) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Forgejo, GitLab Community Edition | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $8.25 (Premium at $99/year) | Azure DevOps: $12.00 (Premium tier)
GitLab: 400 minutes (shared) | Azure DevOps: 1,800 minutes (Microsoft-hosted agents)
GitLab: 10,000+ (with performance degradation) | Azure DevOps: 50,000+ (enterprise proven)
GitLab: Open-source Community Edition available | Azure DevOps: Deprecated; Server edition EOL in 2024
GitLab: Via third-party plugins/SAML | Azure DevOps: Native, deeply integrated
GitLab: Basic; limited test case tracking | Azure DevOps: Dedicated Test Plans with full lifecycle management
GitLab: 400+ via marketplace | Azure DevOps: 600+ via marketplace and native Azure services
GitLab: 10 GB (projects) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $29 (Premium plan) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Included in Free tier (SAST, DAST, Dependency, Container) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 600 (authenticated) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Community, Premium, and Ultimate editions | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Yes - includes 50,000 CI/CD minutes | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Native GitLab CI/CD | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 5-8 built-in | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $99 (Premium Edition) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: GitLab CI/CD (native pipeline engine) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Merge Requests with code owner enforcement | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: DORA metrics, advanced audit, compliance reporting (Premium+) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $2,900 (Premium tier at $29/user) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Unlimited public/private repos included | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 400+ templates included | Azure DevOps: Yes (Azure Pipelines)
GitLab: ~20 standard field types | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 12 million+ monthly active users | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: SAST, DAST, dependency scanning included in Premium | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 2-4 hours for basic CI/CD pipeline with templates | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 500-1,000 per instance; sharding available | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Free tier and above | Azure DevOps: No, requires separate Azure Container Registry
GitLab: $8.25/month (Premium) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $9,900/year (Premium self-managed) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: Free tier and above | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: 20% (estimated enterprise adoption) | Azure DevOps: 22%
GitLab: Manual webhook-based integration | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $0 (includes 5GB storage, private repos) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $11.90 | Azure DevOps: $6 per user/month
GitLab: Fully included, unlimited minutes | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $0 (free community edition) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: $29 (Premium tier, no separate enterprise pricing) | Azure DevOps: N/A
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Azure Boards (native)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Branch policies, approval gates, build validation
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Unlimited (public), 1,800 (private)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 1 (Git only)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: $6 (or free tier)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Yes (Git and TFVC included)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Standard (basic custom fields, limited automation)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Up to 5 (full features)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 1,800 minutes
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Not public-facing
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Branch policies with reviewer requirements
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 2 (Git + TFVC)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: $0-6 (free first 5 users)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Azure Repos (fully integrated)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Azure DevOps Server (limited support)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 1,800 minutes/month
Monthly Cost for 10-Person Team (Standard)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: $60 (5 free + 5 × $6)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: No published limit (account-based throttling)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 5/10 (requires marketplace extension)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 12 (+ conditional logic, approval gates, multi-stage, variable groups, service connections)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 500+ extensions
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: $6 (Basic) to $30 (Enterprise)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: 0 GB (separate service required)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: $6,000+ (Azure DevOps Server licensing)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Native (Office 365, Dynamics, Power BI, Teams)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Included in Basic tier ($6/user/month)
GitLab: N/A | Azure DevOps: Supported via marketplace (Microsoft owns GitHub)
How to choose between GitLab and Azure DevOps
GitLab vs Azure DevOps — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for GitLab vs Azure DevOps. Contains 128 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
GitLab vs Azure DevOps — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for GitLab vs Azure DevOps.
Which is cheaper for a 20-person development team?
GitLab costs $0-$580/month (free to Premium at $29/user) for 20 users, while Azure DevOps costs $120-$600/month (Basic at $6/user to Enterprise at $30/user). GitLab's free tier supports unlimited users with 400 CI/CD minutes shared; Azure gives 1,800 minutes free. For small teams, GitLab Free is unbeatable; for enterprises, Azure DevOps' included Test Plans ($23/user value) makes it competitive.
Yes. Many organizations use GitLab for source control and CI/CD while using Azure DevOps for work item tracking and test management. GitLab integrates with Azure Repos and Azure Pipelines via webhooks and APIs. However, this creates maintenance overhead; most teams choose one primary platform to minimize integration complexity and licensing costs.
Which has better community support and documentation?
GitLab has a larger open-source community (25,000+ contributors, 10M+ monthly active users) with extensive community-driven documentation and tutorials. Azure DevOps has strong enterprise support from Microsoft and detailed Microsoft-authored docs, but smaller community forum activity. For troubleshooting advanced CI/CD issues, GitLab's community resources are typically faster to find.
Is migration from one platform to the other difficult?
Migrating repositories is straightforward (both support mirror imports in <1 hour). However, migrating CI/CD pipelines takes 1-2 weeks per 50 pipelines due to syntax differences (GitLab YAML vs Azure YAML). Work item tracking migration is the bottleneck—estimated 2-4 weeks for teams with 1,000+ items. Both platforms offer migration guides, but professional services are recommended for enterprises with complex configurations.
Which platform scales better for enterprise deployments?
Azure DevOps scales to 10,000+ users with guaranteed SLA, dedicated support, and enterprise-grade compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001). GitLab scales to 50,000+ users on SaaS with similar compliance certifications. For on-premise deployments, GitLab's Community Edition scales with commodity hardware; Azure DevOps Server requires significant infrastructure investment ($6K+/year licensing plus on-premise costs). Both handle enterprise scale; choose based on deployment preference.
How to Choose Between GitLab and Azure DevOps
Built-in CI/CD Pipeline: GitLab has Native GitLab CI/CD included in free tier, while Azure DevOps has Azure Pipelines requires separate configuration.
Container Registry: GitLab has Integrated registry with 5GB free storage, while Azure DevOps has Requires Azure Container Registry (separate service).
Microsoft Stack Integration: GitLab has Basic Azure integrations via extensions, while Azure DevOps has Native integration with Office 365, Dynamics 365, Power BI.
Self-Hosted Option: GitLab has GitLab Community Edition (free, fully open-source), while Azure DevOps has Azure DevOps Server (requires licensing, $6,000+ annually).
Consider: Free Tier Monthly CI/CD Minutes
Free Tier Monthly CI/CD Minutes: GitLab has 400 minutes/month across shared runners, while Azure DevOps has 1,800 minutes/month (Microsoft-hosted agents).
Test Management Features: GitLab has Test Case management in Premium tier ($29/user/month), while Azure DevOps has Test Plans included in Basic plan ($6/user/month).
Average Implementation Time: GitLab has 2-3 weeks for teams new to DevOps, while Azure DevOps has 3-4 weeks due to Microsoft ecosystem complexity.