The Differences (and Similarities) Between GitLab and GitHub

Many people get confused about choosing the version control system, almost all the codes around the globe either dwell in GitHub or GitLab. GitHub is more popular compared to GitLab, but each has its own purpose and features. 

Git is the fastest version control system that can handle huge amounts of software development projects. Beyond that, Git can be expanded to include other comprehensive features like CI/CD functionality and project management.

Developers can also report bugs and collaborate on projects, so let’s compare two of the best platforms, GitLab and GitHub, and discover the differences and similarities between them. Also, learn about The ABCs Of Custom Web Application Development by reading this article.

Getting to Know the Platforms: GitLab and GitHub

Both the platforms have robust features and satisfy comprehensive needs, let’s have an overview of them. 

GitHub

GitHub is a cloud-based platform known for hosting Git repositories, but it also offers GitHub enterprises for self-hosting. The main feature of GitHub is open coding, which is excellent for open-source projects and collaboration. You can report bugs, and ask for suggestions from other developers around the globe, and the platform has fostered into a large community. 

The marketplace in the GitHub community offers extensions, tools, and other third-party integrations that could be very useful for developers who want to customize their projects. 

Now let’s discuss the GitLab overview and understand its functionality. 

GitLab

Unlike GitHub, GitLab offers self-hosted as well as cloud-hosted versions. Both versions have unique benefits, as the self-hosting gives you more control over your work. Whereas, the cloud-hosted version is more secure and preferred by developers looking to add an extra layer of security. 

Talking about the standout feature of GitLab is its Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment which is CI/CD. This makes it easier to automate testing and software delivery. 

The platform also includes a registry for Docker images that vastly simplifies application container packing. Furthermore, without a doubt, GitLab offers powerful issue-tracking and project-management tools through which you can comprehend effortlessly.

As both the platforms are designed to cater to different needs, let’s briefly discover their differences. 

The Main Difference Between GitHub and GitLab

GitHub is mostly used when you are working on open-source projects, whereas you need a comprehensive DevOps platform with integrated CI/CD. Apart from this, the major differences between GitHub and GitLab are: 

• Pricing: The major component of the comparison is their pricing. GitHub offers its plan starting at just $4/user/month, on the other hand, GitLab starts its pricing with its premium plan at $29/month. 

• Permission: GitHub gives you access to modify the role of users whereas GitHub gives you accessibility to read or write to a repository.

• Communities: GitHub community is larger and more organized where you can seek anything. However, the GitLab community is privately owned and has a more controlled environment, unlike GitHub. 

• Security: In terms of security, GitLab is more secure and provides security tools like SAST, DAST, Dependency Scanning, and Container Scanning. 

• Conditions: GitHub only allows private repositories with a maximum of three collaborations. Whereas there are no such conditions in GitLab.

GitHub emphasizes speed and GitLab emphasizes reliability. Unfortunately, GitHub doesn’t have a built-in container registry.

So these were some of the basic differences between these two powerful platforms. As mentioned earlier both the platforms are designed to cater to different needs, but there are some similarities as well. Let’s discover those as well. 

The Common Grounds

Although both platforms satisfy the different requirements, there are certain similarities as well. The platforms are made with Git which is quite a renowned control system that was developed by Linus Torvalds. This integration ensures that developers get the benefits of Git such as version history, branching, and merging on both platforms. 

Additionally, both platforms offer a Merge Requests tool that is known as a pull request in GitHub. Both boast exclusive functionality such as code reviews, collaboration, and discussion before merging code. Both have user-friendly designs and allow you to integrate with other services and both platforms offer Git stop tracking files and also allow you to stop tracking files in Git without requiring you to delete them. 

If you are not too familiar with the Git interface, then both platforms are an excellent choice that makes it easy to navigate through repositories, view code, and manage codes. 

Final Words

Both platforms are well-equipped to assist developers, as GitHub and GitLab offer robust and powerful repository platforms. Although both platforms cater to different requirements of developers, both are excellent choices with many valuable tools and features. 

Moreover, beyond the coding repository, GitHub can be used for documentation, issue tracking, and wikis. In terms of security and cost, GitLab would be the better choice for you. 

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