Any reasonable person would agree that most code on the planet lives on either GitLab or GitHub. Without them, OSS and collaborative programming advancement basically would not exist as they do today. GitHub vs GitLab, which is best, has always been a predominant question.
Both GitLab and GitHub are development platforms with a solid spotlight on the open-source Git system for distributed version control. With regards to choosing the code repository hosting platform for a new venture, GitLab and GitHub are quick to ring a bell. If popularity must be taken into consideration, GitHub would be the reasonable victor. Having said that, GitLab has its speciality. As per the Snyk JVM Ecosystem Report 2020, the top repository among Java Developers was GitLab.
It is fascinating to take note that even though GitHub currently offers free private vaults, it can’t rival GitLab yet. In many individuals’ brains, GitLab is the spot to go for private stores and GitHub for public ones. However, what more do GitLab and GitHub have in store? Let’s discover.
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What is GitLab?
GitLab is an open-source code repository that provides free open and private repositories, issue-following capabilities and collaborative programming improvement stages for enormous DevOps and DevSecOps projects, enabling professionals to perform all the tasks in a project. GitLab offers an area for online code stockpiling and capacities for issue tracking and CI/CD. The vault empowers facilitating diverse improvement chains and forms and helps teams reduce product life cycles and increase productivity, which in turn creates value for customers.
GitLab is free for people’s use, however, to get more functionalities, clients can switch to the paid version of GitLab, beginning at $4 per client, each month.
Key Features of GitLab
Let’s now look at some of the key features of GitLab
- GitLab is extremely simple to set up and comes with an easy-to-understand UI and tools.
- It permits a limitless number of free private repositories and is packed with an in-built registry, which can be deployed instantly without any configurations.
- GitLab organizes all collaborative workflows, regardless of whether a group utilizes Waterfall, Agile, or Conversational Development.
- GitLab monitors the advancement and activity across projects and performance metrics for the deployed apps can be received through Prometheus.
- GitLab spots mistakes quicker and abbreviates feedback cycles with Gitlab’s built-in code review, code testing, code quality, and audit applications.
What is GitHub?
Geeks rave about GitHub all the time, still many don’t understand what GitHub is. Well, GitHub is a site and web-based interface that assists professionals to store and manage their code, as well as tracking and controlling changes to their code. GitHub permits different engineers to work on a single project simultaneously, thereby, the danger of duplicative or clashing work is reduced, and production time is also decreased significantly. Also, anybody can join and host a public code repository free of charge, which makes GitHub particularly well-known for open-source projects.
The interface of GitHub is very user-friendly, making it easy for amateur coders to take advantage of Git. Without GitHub, using Git generally requires users to be a bit more technical savvy and it involves usage of familiarity with command line tools to operate it. Also, anybody can join and host a public code repository free of charge, which makes GitHub particularly well-known for open-source projects. GitHub has a sponsorship program enabling funders to discover open-source projects that they are enthusiastic about and can contribute to the individual or association behind it.
Key Features of GitHub
Let’s now look at some of the key features of GitHub
- What is GitHub used for? GitHub is where project managers and developers meet up to organize, track, and update their work so that tasks are transparent in nature and right on time.
- GitHub keeps your public and hidden code accessible, secure, and backed up. If you are storing your code on disk it will take less than a moment to push code up.zIt takes less than a moment to push code up to GitHub and begin teaming up with others.
- Individuals and organization members alike benefit from GitHub’s huge network of creators. GitHub creators borrow inspiration and ideas from one another and help each other stay on the same page.
- GitHub uses dedicated tools to identify and analyze vulnerabilities in the code that other tools tend to miss. Development teams everywhere work together to secure the software supply chain, from start to finish.
- GitHub utilizes devoted instruments to distinguish and analyse weaknesses in the code that different devices will in general miss. Development teams in all places cooperate to secure the software supply chain, from start to finish.
- All the code and documentation are in one spot. There are a huge number of stores on GitHub, and every storehouse has its own devices to assist you with hosting and releasing code.
Differences between GitLab and GitHub
| COMPARISON PARAMETER | GitHub | GitLab |
| Developed by | The GitHub service was developed by Chris Wanstrath, P. J. Hyett, Tom Preston-Werner and Scott Chacon using Ruby on Rails in February 2008. | GitLab was created by Ukrainian developers Dmitriy Zaporozhets and Valery Sizov. |
| Design | GitLab is designed with a Web IDE. | On May 6 2020, GitHub announced its brand new built-in IDE (also known as Codespaces). It’s powered by Visual Studio technology. |
| Open Source | GitHub is free and accessible to all with publicly shared codes. | GitLab only permits its team of web developers to collaborate on codes. |
| Integration and Delivery | GitHub does not come with built-in continuous integration. It is dependent on third-party technologies to accomplish this. | CI and CD testing automation solutions are some of the most useful free features that GitLab offers. |
| Inner Source | GitHub doesn’t allow the process of implementing open-source culture within an organization. | GitLab’s internal projects permit you to facilitate the inner sourcing of your repositories. |
| Authentication | Confirming who can and can’t utilize the repository can be set by their job. | At GitLab, a developer has the authority to decide whether someone should access a repository. |
| Repository Access | With Github, you can basically decide who gets read or write access to your repositories. | GitLab enables you to modify people’s access to repositories based on their role in the company. |
| Deployment | GitHub does not come with a deployment framework. Third-party platforms such as Heroku are used by GitHub to deploy applications. | Offers a more streamlined solution with a built-in dedicated service. Kubernetes is used to provide a unified deployment experience in a single app. |
| Milestone | Lacks the function of milestones. | With the help of milestones, keep track of problems and merge requests that have been generated to accomplish a larger target in a certain amount of time. |
| Track Comments | GitHub provides complete support of the history of comment updates. You can view, edit a comment history and delete sensitive details from a comment’s edit history. | GitLab doesn’t support this feature. |
| Community | Highly popular and has developers all over the world. | Huge community and gathers contributors by hosting events. |
| Pricing | On the high end, Github costs $21.00 per user. | Gitlab asks for $99.00. |
Conclusion
If you are finding it difficult to figure out which one is the right pick for you, let me give you my perspective and advise you in which instances you ought to go with GitHub and when you should adhere to GitLab.
So first, why GitLab?
If you are looking for something flexible, which can handle your entire SDLC, and is also cost-less, GitLab will be the pick for you.
GitLab is defined by its top-notch features — issue tracker, built-in CI/CD, deployment, and monitoring. All of these features enable you to go from development to cloud without having to use other 3rd party tools. Everything is in one place and is great for personal use.
Coming to GitHub, what makes it unique? What is GitHub used for?
GitHub is an incredible platform for amateurs, particularly in case you are searching for an intuitive platform to host your ventures. Github is also the first choice of larger teams that depend on crystal-clear team communication. That’s because Github delivers fantastic collaboration tools in order to make your team communication efficient so that you guys can develop faster and produce quality code.
Yet, when it comes down to a full DevOps lifecycle, GitLab still tops the rankings with its high-end built-in CI/CD framework and monitoring features.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.1: Is GitHub or GitLab better?
Ans: In case you are working on a bigger task as a team with various developers, then, at that point, GitHub can be the better decision. Having said that, if the project requires continuous integration, GitLab can be inclined.
Q.2: Is GitLab more expensive than GitHub?
Ans: GitLab’s Premium plan starts at $19 per user/month. It gives managers access to project management and code integrity controls. The GitHub Team plan starts at $4 per user/month. GitLab Ultimate will set you back $99 per user/month versus $21 per user/month for GitHub Enterprise.
Q.3: Do companies use GitLab?
Ans: 2748 companies reportedly use GitLab in their tech stacks, including Bitpanda, KAVAK, and GO-JEK.
4. Can I use GitLab for free?
Ans: If you have a knack for using GitLab, we recommend you download and install GitLab Enterprise Edition. The Enterprise Edition is available for free and is packed with all of the features available in the Community Edition, without the need to register or obtain a license.
