GitLab vs. GitHub – What Should You Choose?

By Abhinav Girdhar | Last Updated on May 17th, 2023 1:16 pm

Repository hosting tools are extremely popular among developers as they’re critical to the software development process. The platforms provide a variety of management by which we can streamline our collaborative workflow for completing the software development lifecycle.

Introduction

GitHub and GitLab are two of the most popular repository hosting and management tools in the market. Both GitLab and GitHub are development platforms focusing on the open source Git system for distributed version control. 87.2% of surveyed developers rely on Git for version control, collaboration, and smoother deployment.

What is GitHub?

GitHub was developed by Chris Wanstrath, Tom Preston-Werner, P. J. Hyett, and Scott Chacon. The repository hosting service tool offers collaboration and access control. It is a platform for programmers to fix bugs together and host open-source projects. GitHub is designed for the developers and to help them track their changes in their Java, CPP, Python, C#, etc. projects through the repository.

What is GitLab?

GitLab was developed by Dmitriy Zaporozhets and Valery Sizov. The platform provides a variety of management by which users can streamline their collaborative workflow for completing the software development lifecycle. It also allows users to import the repository from Google Code, Bitbucket, etc. GitLab has Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) and DevOps workflows built-in.

GitHub and GitLab – A Feature Comparison

Here are the key differences between GitHub and GitLab:

1. Branches

GitHub advocates merging new branches with the master branch. That way, you’re set up to quickly deploy, and you can speedily reinstate your old version if something goes wrong. In GitLab, you can create multiple yet separate stable branches beyond that of the master branch for each set of changes you make. The multiple branch approach does require a multiple-step testing process. A single code review upon the merge request isn’t enough.

2. Continuous Integration

The most significant difference in user experience is GitLab’s dedication to continuous integration and a DevOps workflow. GitLab CI tools let you build, stage, and deploy code automatically without relying on manual updates or clunky, custom-built integrations.

While you can set up a CI/CD workflow with GitHub, you need to work with a third-party CI tool like TravisCI or CircleCI. You don’t have the same platform of CI features that interact directly with your GitHub repository.

3. Open Source

While both platforms support open-source, GitHub’s not an open-source project but its code contains some open-source code. GitLab uses an open-core business approach. In this model, the GitLab Community Edition remains free and open-source, while the GitLab Enterprise Edition has more features and comes with support.

4. Pricing

Both services offer free plans that come with unlimited public and private repositories. GitHub’s Team plan is $40 a year per user, and the Enterprise plan is $200 a year per user. GitLab also offers a Premium plan that costs $19 a month per user, while the full-featured Ultimate plan is $99 a month.

5. Integrations

GitLab provides a complete, packaged platform, rather than giving everyone a choice to build their platform with different apps. That said, it supports integrations with Asana, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Gmail, and 30+ other apps and platforms. GitHub offers integrations for 374 free apps in its marketplace, with many paid options to boot.

Top GitHub Integrations

• Integrate GitHub with MeisterTask, so when a new section is created in MeisterTask, a pull request will be created in GitHub
• Connect GitHub with MailerLite, so when a new subscriber is created in MailerLite, a pull request will be created in GitHub
• Build workflow automations between GitHub and Drift, so whenever there is a new message in Drift, a new issue will be created GitHub
• Integrate GitHub with SendGrid, so when a new commit is created in GitHub, an email will be sent through SendGrid
• Connect GitHub with Tableau, so whenever a new project is created in Tableau, a pull request will be created in GitHub

Top GitLab Integrations

• Integrate GitLab and Microsoft Outlook, so when a new commit is created in GitLab, an email will be sent from Microsoft Outlook
• Connect GitLab with Freshsales, so when a new commit happens in GitLab, a new lead will be created in Freshsales
• Build workflow automations between GitLab and Evernote Business, so whenever a new commit happens in GitLab, a new note will be created in Evernote Business
• Integrate GitLab with MeisterTask, so when a new commit happens in GitLab, an attachment will be created in MeisterTask

Top GitHub and GitLab Integrations

• A new commit will be created in GitLab, when an issue is updated in GitHub
• A pull request will be created in GitHub, whenever a new issue event happens in GitLab
• An issue will be created in GitHub, when a new commit happens in GitLab
• A pull request in created in GitLab when a new commit happens in GitHub

Conclusion

With complete knowledge about the two platforms, you can choose to use any of them to your complete advantage. Appy Pie Connect is a popular workflow automation software that helps you create app connectors in a few steps. The app integration platform can help you use extra features with everyday features of GitHub and Gitlab.